High prices, low quality
The high prices that worry citizens and the government are not limited to the products on supermarket shelves. They concern a broad range of goods and services, from telecommunications and fuel to the quality of life provided by our municipalities and state.
Price gouging is so widespread that it merges into fraud: We pay very high prices for services and products of the lowest quality. Although our taxes, along with various fees and levies, are supposed to provide us with free education, health, security and the full range of civilization’s blessings, we are forced to pay once again if we want to enjoy what we have already paid for. The lack of parking spaces, the inadequate sidewalks, the potholes, the terrible signposting and the tolerance of every kind of violation have turned our roads into death traps for drivers and for the pedestrians who have to walk on them. These are just a few examples from our daily lives that confirm how the absence of discipline and the lack of concern for one another lead to an unjust society. Legislating checks on product prices is not enough to improve things.
Today we are dealing not only with imported pressures on prices, as the government initially declared, but with our long-term tolerance of high prices without the corresponding quality or effectiveness. We tolerate antisocial behavior (tax theft, dangerous driving etc) because we do not want to “rat” on anyone and because we think that perhaps we, too, may need to make use of loopholes in laws and lax policing at some point. In other words, we accept to live in a country where institutions and citizens pretend that we are ruled by law, even though we know that those who have the means, the necessary connections, secure better conditions for themselves and their children. And we know that money, family networks and political ties, are our society’s most powerful tools.
The influx of much foreign money – and illicit money – into our real estate market is widening inequality, as it has led to a rapid rise in prices. So, some get rich from the sale or rental of property while the many find it more and more difficult to have a roof over their head. And even as the demand for labor grows, incomes remain low, so that young people cannot expect that they will be able to live here with dignity. Their elders, on the other hand, worry about their old age.
The multinationals, the national oligopolies, the neighborhood merchants and tradesmen have learned that the Greeks tolerate high prices and do not properly evaluate the goods and services provided to them. Mass protests are usually ritualistic, related to some national taboo (such as the objection to non-state-run universities) and not to the demand for justice in our daily lives. Naturally, this results in some demanding higher prices, offering lower quality and giving account to no one. (An effort to get anywhere with one of our telecommunication companies will drive even the best-intentioned consumer to despair.)
The fact that other countries of comparable size provide cheaper and better services and products to their residents is indicative of the depth of our problem. A simple comparison of prices, though, is not enough to explain the structural problem which stems from the long-term conspiracy between citizens, the state and economic interests for the systematic cheating of the citizens.
