It would be a very hard person who did not feel a spark of compassion for those in charge of running our dysfunctional states these days. As Per Luigi Bersani, leader of Italy's centre-left party said the other day, "only an insane person" would want the job.
Let's accept that most of the countries in the EU (not just the eurozone) are in a terrible mess, and let's accept that none of those in power know what to do about it. But if we ask those seeking power what THEY would do to tackle unemployment and to get the economy back on its feet, we are met with much bluster but little practical indications.
Take, for example, the question of wasteful public expenditure. Opposition politicians and commentators alike are rightly scathing in their criticism of the hideously bloated public sector here in France. The amount of people sitting around in administrations up and down the country doing absolutely nothing is indeed truly scandalous. But what exactly do we propose to do about it? Get rid of them in their hundreds of thousands and swell yet further the ranks of the unemployed? If that is truly what we propose, we should have the courage to come out and say so. It is much safer, of course, to stay within the bounds of general incantations and condemnations. It is, too, much easier to say what we should have done, rather than what we should do now. Who, in positions of responsibility and/or weight, is prepared to stand up and to state clearly what needs to be done and, just as important, what the likely consequences would be?
Let's accept that most of the countries in the EU (not just the eurozone) are in a terrible mess, and let's accept that none of those in power know what to do about it. But if we ask those seeking power what THEY would do to tackle unemployment and to get the economy back on its feet, we are met with much bluster but little practical indications.
Take, for example, the question of wasteful public expenditure. Opposition politicians and commentators alike are rightly scathing in their criticism of the hideously bloated public sector here in France. The amount of people sitting around in administrations up and down the country doing absolutely nothing is indeed truly scandalous. But what exactly do we propose to do about it? Get rid of them in their hundreds of thousands and swell yet further the ranks of the unemployed? If that is truly what we propose, we should have the courage to come out and say so. It is much safer, of course, to stay within the bounds of general incantations and condemnations. It is, too, much easier to say what we should have done, rather than what we should do now. Who, in positions of responsibility and/or weight, is prepared to stand up and to state clearly what needs to be done and, just as important, what the likely consequences would be?
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