Editorial: Galley slaves

The government has a duty to be the government of all Greeks, and of all working people, especially in a period of economic crisis, which has had a disastrous impact on the labour market, from unemployment to low wages.

Unfortunately, the government is moving in the completely opposite direction than what the call of duty mandates.

Not only has the private sector been abandoned to its own devices, but on top of that the state is draining it with unbearable taxation. Not only does it treat private sector employees as children of a lesser God, it has turned them into galley slaves.

The natural consequence is that the public sector has been transformed into a sort of Eldorado for all those seeking employment.

What is not at all natural is for the government to exploit the agony of the unemployed for electoral gain.

The damage wrought by such tactics is of two kinds.

On the one hand, the chasm that divides workers in the public and private sectors aggravates society’s sense of inequality and injustice, especially when that inequality and injustice are nurtured by the state.

On the other hand, the government is perpetuating a vicious circle of bloating the public sector for reasons of political patronage, thus prolonging the crisis.

The truth is that one cannot have a functional state without a small public sector. But it is equally true that the public sector must not become the bailiwick of any government.