The Origins of Crisis: Corruption and Nepotism Haunt Southern Europe

[sysop]

Jobs for your friends, contracts for your relatives, cash handouts for everyone: that's how politics works in Sicily. Now the island is on the verge of bankruptcy. It's an example of the underlying problem plaguing many parts of the southern European countries now struggling to contain the euro crisis.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...847229,00.html

[SHBasse]

It will always be so that the weakest link of the chain breakes first. It is telling that Northern Europe almost forget their own grave situation because Southern Europe is worse off!
The origin of the crisis is the lack of competitiveness that has fallen aupon all the old industrialized countries, the economic crisis is the sign of that development. A sign that was just postponed by the boubble economy!
To understand how go to:
http://unifiedscience2.blogspot.com/...-downturn.html

[ppaul2005]

It is pretty obvious to me that the article headline does not make sense whatsoever.
It only does spread prejudice .
If one does read the article one does find out that the article is just about sicily ;
Why then the title mentioning Southern Europe ?
Acording to wikipedia these are the countries of southern Europe :

Iberian Peninsula

* Andorra
* Gibraltar (British overseas territory)
* Portugal (including: Madeira and Azores)
* Spain (including: Balearic Islands)

[edit] Italian Peninsula

* Italy (including: Sardinia and Sicily)
* San Marino
* Vatican City
* Malta (including: Gozo)

[edit] Balkans

* Albania
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia (below Sava and Kupa); the northern regions (Slavonia, Zagreb, Međimurje and Zagorje) are sometimes considered as central Europe)
* Greece (including: Aegean Islands, Crete, and Ionian Islands)
* Macedonia
* Montenegro
* Serbia (below Sava and Danube; the northern regions (Vojvodina, northern Belgrade, Mačva region) are sometimes considered as central Europe)
* Slovenia (region of Primorska)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souther...cal_definition

Does it make sense to make an article just about Sicily and claiming in its title that Southern Europe do suffer from Sicily problems ?
It does not make any sense.
In Portugal , by instance , there is no sicilian Cosa Nostra .

I wonder if the title does not betray the journalist bias towards all southern european countries

[kogiks]

We have a similar problem here in the Philippines. I say similar and not the same because it's not as grave as it is described in Sicily. My take on this, based on our own experience, is that people (voters) deserve the government that they get. They allow themselves to be bought through direct cash handouts during elections and through all forms of patronage when their preferred candidates are elected. Let Sicily and, perhaps, Greece dig their own graves. It's the only way people may realize the value of good citizenship.

[yiannaki]

Your can critize the article for the pars pro toto attitude, but I think it's a correct picture.
About 100 years ago Max Weber did already discribe the differences in attitude between North and South Europe.

The real problem is that these attitudes are not new and that nor the EU nor those countries themselves did make an assessment about the consequences of introducing the euro in such a setting ! And now we do have this mess.

In order to handle this situation the North of Europe better steps out of the euro and does introduce the neuro.
The southern countries can choose what to do:

- Staying the way they are and keep on using a then devaluated euro, or
- Do make their economy and related attitudes neuro-proof and step in later. This will take them about 25 years or 2 generations.

[Mea_Culpa_1957]

New Jersey, USA has the same problem and for the same reasons, the southern Europeans control everything. Read more here. (English only, sorry)

http://www.northjersey.com/garfield/...mily_plan.html