What is the opposite of progress?

If con- is the opposite of pro-, is congress the opposite of progress? I was reminded recently of this little word play when the US congress was failing to raise the debt ceiling to prevent the US economy from basically defaulting on its debt. Eventually, logic prevailed and the right thing was done, but the US did not come through it unscarthed. It was downgraded one notch while put on negative watch. And it occurred to me, the lengths that politicians will go to rubbish their opponents. Quite shocking actually! It is therefore better for the Republicans to create the political uncertainty that led to this downgrade and put the US economy through unnecessary trouble, rather than take a swift decision that will solve the underlying problem. To be sure, the US has a huge fiscal problem. One that will take a couple of electoral cycles and a lot of cuts to fix. All Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike, should brace themselves for a bumpy ride ahead. But in economics sentiments matter. And when you are at the eleventh hour, you cannot afford to be politically expedient. And yet one is! Oh well...who said progress was easy?

Bad time to be a Greek

Every day I go through my morning routine of reading the latest reports on Greece. Coffee on one hand, and the press on the other. I start with the Anglo press, I move on to the Greek newspapers and blogs and then I finish with the Dutch press.

And for the past year and half, all my mornings have started bad. With the Anglo press prophesying how small and insignificant Greece will be the demise of the euro, the Greek press reporting yet more strikes, panic and internal bickering, and the Dutch press taking its usual condescending, if not outright hostile attitude towards the lazy Greeks. “We have public opinion too” cried the Dutch minister of finance… A victory of clichés over substance! Or is it? I cannot help but think that clichés become such for good reasons and we are ultimately the sole responsible for our own fate.

And here is the bitter truth. The adult generations of the past 35 years have basically mortgaged the future of the current Greek children. Every parent and grand parent should therefore be asked to account to their under-18 year olds why we have allowed our governments to steal from them and then lie about it. It strikes me that for the country that has named economics, we have done precious little to enforce the nomo in our ecos. The answer in my view is not outside on the Parliament square. It is not even inside the building. It is inside our homes. We need to start by apologizing to our children.

Then we need to remove the current political elite (green, blue and red) that has repeatedly and indiscriminately failed us. I am a 40 plus-er. My generation of Greeks will be badly hit as it is too young to benefit from the generosity of the previous regime, and too old to have enough time to fix it. But it is the 20 year olds that will have to fix it. It is only fair then that they should be the ones to decide how best to do it. I only hope that they have enough acumen to protect their and the country’s interests and that they will actually look after their children's future slightly better than we ever did!