Greek lessons

Greece’s central bank governor, George Provopoulos, had some harsh words for his compatriots on Tuesday as he exhorted them to break with the past and do what is necessary to right the country’s fiscal and economic situation.

To turn this situation around is not a short-term proposition, Provopoulos said: “On the contrary, what is needed is a persistent and systematic effort, an effort that is sustained, concerted and groundbreaking. Overcoming the crisis will, in other words, require a break with the past.”

But it was his catalogue of Greece’s shortcomings – the ‘recipes of the past’ – that was perhaps the harshest. These include:

· Myopic focus on the present to the detriment of the future

· Consumption behaviour verging on overindulgence that exceeds productive capacity of the economy by far

· Selective and "at will" compliance with laws and regulations

· Shifting of responsibility onto others

· Refusal to make the slightest effort towards consensus-building

· Dogmatic interpretations of reality

· Claims to maintain acquired privileges that go against the interest of society as a whole

· Short-termism and an easy-profit culture

Does any of this sound familiar?

While it might be tempting to say “those poor, misguided Greeks”, this same list of failings could apply equally well in whole or in part to other countries.