Borrowing large amounts of money, disproportionate to the financial capabilities of a family or a business, rarely happens because of random or imponderable events. It usually happens because of poor management of family and business budgets. Those who get into default because of random or unforeseeable events deserve our sympathy; those who get into default because of poor financial management are usually dealt with sceptically. If we examine the financial management of family and business budgets and delve into the reasons for default, we will see that insolvency is usually due to undertaking extravagant projects and excessive spending that does not correspond to the financial capabilities of the borrowers. In these cases, it is certain that leniency and restructuring of the debt are not effective solutions.

What we described in the previous paragraph does not just apply to families and businesses, but to all societal groups. Similarly, the conclusions reached above, already well-known to most people, also apply to individual states, particularly to Greece. Unfortunately, poor financial management by our governments during the 200 years that we have been an independent state, has led our country to seven bankruptcies. Since 1824, when we first got our first loan, our country did not meet its financial obligations towards its foreign creditors seven times. It is obvious that the money borrowed each time was not managed in a productive way, but rather was distributed among supporters, so that corrupt leaders could stay in power and get reelected. The consequences were disastrous: new borrowing was required in order to pay off the previous debt, curtailing of the income of those citizens who were too weak to protest and new unfair taxation was imposed, usually directed towards the poor. Each time, between bankruptcies, there were periods of artificial (false) prosperity and unjustified optimism as well as overconsumption, usually of not-needed products, promoted by corrupt politicians. Thus, the next bankruptcies came very quickly…

We believe that the current proposal for paying off our country’s debt is the correct one: prolonging the pay-off deadline of our large debts. If we are successful in setting back the pay-off date, the tax burden imposed on the Greek citizens will be reduced. Of course, this measure alone is not enough, as it needs to be accompanied by additional long-term legislation. Other prerequisites for ending the present economic crisis are unanimity and consistency in the policies of the next governments as well as improved productivity. We need strong will, constructive criticism of our actions up to now, deep reflection, and of course reforms, with the most important one being the reform of our educational system. These reforms will slowly change the mentality of the Greek people, will help reduce parasitism and corruption, will help increase competitiveness and finally will bring improved productivity in work, businesss initiative and technical know-how.

Good governance is the key element in achieving the above goals. Greek citizens should elect those politicians who will be able to put into practice these aspirations and will bring meaningful reforms, by legislating the appropriate bills and enforcing them. Unfortunately, the electorate has so far not responded appropriately to the urgent need for reforms in order to end the economic crisis that has been plaguing our country for so many years. It is possible that something positive will finally come from this slow response of the Greek people: a deeper realisation of our obligations as citizens, which will steer us steadfastly towards realistic and achievable goals.

In Mani, the mountainous landscape has played a role in creating “closed” societies for many generations. Maniots were taught by their ancestors to avoid getting into debt at all costs; if an urgent, unforeseeable need left them with no alternative but to borrow money, the ideal was to pay off the debt as soon as possible. This mentality continues to the present time in Mani, although during the last few years of false prosperity we have seen isolated cases of irresponsible borrowing. Financial responsibility, a concept that our ancestors valued, is an ethical obligation, that should not only be practised by the newer generations of Maniots, but also guide us in electing the right politicians who can steer our country out of the present economic crisis.

THE EDITORIAL BOARD