Public greed, public corruption and the crisis--part 2

[This is the second in a two part series.]

So what is the connection between public greed, public corruption and "Domino?"  And what is their connection with the crisis?

To begin with without public greed, public corruption and the misappropriation of funds, we'd have much less of a crisis, and "Domino's" hero would surely have a job.

Why do I say that?  To start off with, back in the "real" world, imagine that all those millions that have disappeared--and here, I'm referring not only to the millions that vanished from the Ciudad de Flamenco project, but the other millions that we can guess have disappeared from other large projects--imagine that they did not vanish, but instead were used for their intended purpose.

Next, imagine that those bloated salaries were brought down to a more reasonable level.  Imagine that public functionaries knew how to do their jobs.

Let's even imagine that political leaders decided not to engage in nepotism and that only those people were hired who were actually needed to run the city (or the region, or the country, or whatever).

Nepotism?  A former mayor had a brother-in-law who raised palm trees.

Well, I think we'd see a huge savings.  I think we'd see much less public debt.  (Public debt for the city of Jerez de la Frontera is now running at more than 6 million Euros, according to the newspapers--and that is a substantial chunk of cash.)

And with those savings, just imagine where we'd be.   Not only would the city not be in debt but...

A news article recently reported that 790 FAMILIES would no longer be getting public assistance.  These are families where no one is able to get a job.  They're victims of the high unemployment level (which runs between 22% and 50%, depending on the source you use).

That number of FAMILIES, here in a country in which divorce is very uncommon and the typical family has between 2 and 6 kids, means around 4,000 and 6,000 PEOPLE. With the savings realized by magically eliminating public greed, surely those people would get their public assistance.  The family head(s) might even be able to get a job and move OFF of public assistance.

The unfortunate Ciudad de Flamenco would probably still be under construction.

The Teatro Villamarta--the main theater of Jerez de la Frontera

The city would be paying its bills.  Right now, the city is in arrears on paying for garbage collection, paying for the electricity for street lights, and paying the artists who put on productions in the city's main theater.  That theater hosts the opera and other major public performances.  It also hosts the annual, world-famous  International Flamenco Festival which brings the city many, many millions of Euros from tourists.

In a word, if we used our magic wand and eliminated public greed, we'd be awfully near utopia.

NEXT POST:  Why Jerez de la Frontera?