Extroversion* “Defaults” Greece: Albania Towards the Same “Abyss”!

Extroversion* “Defaults” Greece: Albania Towards the Same “Abyss”!

“When “truth” is in the whole then certainty is nowhere”.
Richard Rorty

Ylli Përmeti

1. The extrovert consumption vs. the introvert production.


While the transnational super-elite appears to be confused of what it is looking in the global social and political domain, Albania finds itself in the front of a political, social and economic labyrinth. This fact could easily be confirmed by everyone when someone deliberate about of what sees or feels, in every corner of the world. And this phenomenon happens because parliamentarian “democracy”, distorts, blocs and disfigures new ideas. When such an event takes place, we tend, as societies, to cause, what has been called by Fotopoulos a multi-dimensional crisis. Being in this multi-dimensional crisis, impoverishment of ideas and politics, in this text we will analyse the economical and political falling of Greece, which will be accompanied by the falling of Albania et al. We will realise it with the help of the academic, Takis Fotopoulos. Additionally, both these cases could serve as examples for other countries. Thus, the thesis of Fotopoulos differs thoroughly from social-liberals and the Traditional Left theses. Social-liberals attribute the present crisis to the non-total integration of the Greece’s economy in the global market and the lack of changing the domestic structures for which the market of Greece needed. In other words, the reasons derive from the non-realization of opening and de-regulating the whole market (the four imposed super-elite’s freedoms ) after the Greece’s integration in European Union. Meanwhile, the Traditional Left attributes the present crisis to the ill-planed of the Monetary and Economical Union (MEU) which favours metropolises’ centres -mainly Germany, which grew the competition to the detriment of Southern European countries. It is not surprise that both these structures support the way out of Greece from the MEU and not from the EU.

In opposition to the above two structure’s theses, Fotopoulos attributes the present crisis to the structures but not in the sense of social-liberals, but in the sense of an adoption of a growing extrovert model from the Greece’s elite so that to integrate the economy of the country in the global capitalist market economy. This kind of extroversion played the main role in the distortion of the production’s model and of the consumerism which led to the expansion of what we produce and of what we consume. This expansion in the first decades was covered by the “blessing” of immigration and some foreign investments during the “Expansion of the Industry”, which begun slightly before the Greece’s Junta and ended with the change of the regime. After this period Greece was followed by the expansion of the tourism, and less of the marines, expansion which undertook the covering of the extortion of the growth and, mainly, the growing loan-taking created the growing “bubble” of the transition. This bubble, after the integration of Greece in the Eurozone and the immediate support of the euro, took unprecedented dimensions, until the present global monetary crisis which played the catalyst and ultimately exploded. It is evident that such economical extroversion accompanied with the integration in EU and Eurozone, played the main role for the destruction of Greece’s economy .

Thus, in Greece of the post-war, especially after the Junta, was established an “extrovert consumerist society”, i.e. a consumerist society that was not grounded on the growing of the total market as regards the commodities of the country, but, on the contrary, was grounded mainly on the foreign market than that of the domestic . This phenomenon can be seen in Albania as well, especially after the fall of the dictatorship, i.e., after the years of 1993. And this happened after -93 because the previous three years (1989-92), Albania had difficult economical situations and suspended everything could be considered commodity, economical orientation and real production. Such suspension was as spontaneous as forced, as long as in the country dominated social and economical chaos. But this chaos was first result of the political chaos. The post-communist leaders (left and right) had no idea on how to manage the free market, neither knew they its frailty and the worst of it, they didn’t know the impasses that a free market would impose. Meanwhile, the leadership of the communist party didn’t prepare preliminary the political and social structure, despite the well-fitted advocacy of the then circumstances, by our leader of the time, Ramiz Alia, so that, to guide the populace in a private and fragile market. This lack of preparedness was as a result of the communist leadership’s dim-sightedness who had no mental capability to evaluate the global and domestic future; and the post-communists fell onto the greed of plundering the public wealth, sometimes using laws which were endorsed by them and sometimes skipping away the empowered laws. Thus the market started to be supported on foreign production and imports, begun to constitute organic provisions of the country.

2. The economy bases itself on ‘financial services’.

However, in Greece, regarding the level of the demand, the nature of the economy as an “economy of services”, combined with the entering of checks from outside (naval and immigration etc) created a type of society much more consumerist, which shows typical characteristics of a “radieric” mentality. Thus, the private consumption in Greece absorbed 74% of GDP in 1990, against 57% of the Eurozone. In the present decade, the consumerist character of Greek’s economy has been intensified much more, with the rate of domestic savings in 2008 to reach 10% of GDP, against 16% in the Eurozone, in the meantime, in the end of this decade the savings reached single digit numbers (5% in 2009) a fact that exclude every possibility to invest the public loan from the domestic resources. And this, contrary to Japan’s economy, which despite its own higher loans compared with Greece, has higher saving and state’s bonds are property of Japan’s state, a fact that makes this country invulnerable towards international organizations such as IMF, while Greece is under its protectorate !

A typical similarity of the above situation could be seen even in Albania: Albanian’s economy in the last two decades adopted a model of “financial services”, in two levels: in the practical level and in that of education. While the half of the first decade could be described as a decade where the economical growth was grounded more on immigration and the income from abroad, and the economy grew more than 10% (1993-96) , where simultaneously within this growth appeared the pyramid schemes, and afterwards the revolution, a revolution that was caused from the incompetence of the legislative power and the plundering of the savings from the same people who created these pyramids, the half the second decade could be described as an intensification of concessionary politics, from the same legislative, respectively, Berisha’s cabinet, inherited for that of Nano! Meanwhile, the education overturned the economy: during the year of 2008 the most preferred branches were economics (17%), law (6.4%), pharmacy, building’s engineering, and political science, which constitute almost 42% of the graduated students. Branches that for years have been quite in demand and thus creating an oversaturation of the market with these technicians. While regarding the branches of the economy, the branches of engineerings of mechanical industry, metallurgy, mine’s engineering, industrial chemistry, math, physics -- the number of graduated students have been too much lowered in comparison to 10 years ago, constituting only 5% of the graduated students during the year of 2008 .

And today, we suffer an output of dis-proportionality regarding the consumerist society and the model that our institutional society promotes: “financial services”, where in order to consolidate our politics – without a concrete orientation – our politicians co-add the above branches, and more than these, where in fact these branches multiply every year, as in the case of the European University of Tirana (EUT), which merchandise through the domestic media, the “validity” and western “professionalization” –- professionalization which has not any relation to our geographical terrain, instead it has relation only with countries of the origin, which now have been defaulted in their attempt to rationalise their economy. This phenomenon is identical for Greece as well, and this phenomenon, happens for two main reasons:

1. As regards the Albanian economy, the global corporations, which have their origin from the most industrialised countries of the west, demanded and continue to demand an adequate framework of laws, which with the fall the dictatorship’s regime, invaded furiously in the country, always after ensuring the adequate framework of laws, with the help of our governments, left-wing and right-wing, and simultaneously our professional politicians started to learn how to manipulate the market, that is a manipulation through corporate’s, companies’ and government’s shares/bonds; and
2. With the coming of these corporations in the country appeared the dis-proportionality of the income per capita, where those who possessed the fatted incomes started to consume commodities form countries of their origin, usually western countries, this is because of their quality, despite their expensiveness, and in this way, the poor to go to chip products, especially those of China, etc .

3. The dis-balance of income “condemns” the farming.

But how important is the inequality in the distribution of the income, we ask? Greece for instance, is ranked in one of the poorest counties of the Eurozone, together with Spain, in a level more than 20%. Meanwhile, regarding the structure of the work, Greece is ranked in low levels of wages and the overall income per hour in the manufacture within the community in the years of 1970 was 47% and in the year of 1994 it was 46%, and today it is bellow the half of that of the eurozone, countries that now are demanding reduction of labour’s wages, despite the domestic loan. This fact is evident and it has created a vicious circle which does not allow the growth of the local economy. Thus, the demand of the market for the domestic productions discourages the local investors’ -- a fact that leads to self-employment . The same situation, dominates in the second decade of the transition in Albania: the farming, although with satisfactory output during the first three decades of the proletarian socialism but with a lot of problems in the distribution of commodities, a fact that has been acknowledged by the then (last) leader of the regime, Ramiz Alia , against the producers and consumerists, has been totally paralysed. No farmer today, could be encouraged to cultivate the soil, because no one has the practical capability, firstly to cultivate and secondly to harvest out the profit. This discouraged phenomenon, carries on two dis-functional basic practical reasons:

1. the first one, has to do with the impossibility of the farmer to cultivate the soil mechanically, i.e. with help of the farming industry; this is so, because, if yesterday, under a collective regime, the soil was common property and was cultivated a huge area with not too many farming vehicles (tractors; auto combine etc), today, the farmer ought to ensure his own soil, the means of production and as well the required knowledge, scientific and empirical, in order to reach satisfactory output, and fast/rational satisfactory capital; and
2. the second, has to do with that which is called “global monopoly”: the local farming finds itself under the pressure of global market, which is a monopoly of those, who in the last decades of 1970-80-90-s, modernised their farms, with scientific teams reaching thus high output; and mainly, growing the output by changing genetically the ingredients of the grain . Two are the main reasons of this modification: the grain must be resistant and durable against herbicides with high level of toxic, as glyphosate is, firstly emitted and patented from an American company, Monsat, in the year of 1970-s . Now these companies have blocked the free and competitive market (despite the fact that western counties proclaim fare competition!), with grain genetically modified, with catastrophic effects in the health of human being.

4. Extroversion without “introversion” is not sustainable.

Another element, but partially positive, this time, is the growing of the economy in Albania, in the first three decades, by the so called proletariat socialism, which was at about 8.7% , and it was result of foreign investments, mainly from China; meanwhile Greece of the post-1960-s decade, enjoyed the same growth, about 8.8%, again as a result of foreign investments, and almost double of that of the rest of the community, which was at about 5.1%. After these years, Greece fell by gradual rhythms, and its growth today reaches numbers below zero and with a total debt more than 113% of GDP. So Greece has defaulted on its own debt de facto, but we have to wait such falling to be acknowledged by the Greek’s junta, de jure! But even if such a fact will not be acknowledged by the elite, revolts will become more and more intensive; until then when the people of Greece will adopt an introvert political sustainable economical model. Meanwhile, in Albania, today, “position-opposition”, attack each other for the given manipulated numbers; for because it is necessary to explain that numbers could be easily manipulated, from the competent institutions, respectively, the Ministry of Finance, which is competent for the fiscal policy, and from our own Central National Bank, which is competent for the monetary policy, numbers that are less than 2.5% and a total debt more than 80%, always against GDP. It must be said that the official numbers of Albanian’s debt are at about 60%, but as I have showed elsewhere , these numbers are not real, and the debt is much more than that. In addition, according to a recent publication , the debt is at about €5.8 billions, i.e. for every single Albanian (4 million), the burden is at about 200 thousand lekë. In other words: one monthly wage, always officially, which means unofficially the debt is much more. While in Greece, for every single inhabitant, the burden is at about 50. 273 dollar (37,675 euro), i.e. more than seventy five wages, always if we take as a basic wage the €500. Moreover, in Albania, the economy, after the pyramid schemes, had another falling: from 10% at 7% in the years of 1998-2002 .

But, what is to be concerned, as regards Albania, is that, since 2002, Albanian governments appear to be unable to consolidate their fiscal policy, with the public debt, every year growing. This is because of the expenditures, which are more than the incomes. And the situation gets even worst, when the present government (Berisha’s one), issued the first eurobond (and such gevernment is prepared to issue a second one), on the first week of the month November, asking and accoplishing for €300 millions; and it gets worst because this government (but also the opposition) appears that they does not know what economics is about, where such economy depends on imports, especially in that sector which constitute the catalyst of the economy: food. In addition, this sector, will be destroyed even more, if we integrate our economy into the EU-s structures; always if we accoplish the regulations that the masters of neo-leberalism have demanded, that is, ginving priority to privatise the public sector to private hands. Indeed, when such event will take place, we will be integrated into the community, just because, it complies within the Lisbon Treaty, which is a treaty that favors multi-national companies, which originate mainly from western countries. Practicaly speaking; there is not any possibility, to compete western (mainly German’s) multi-national companies, because a small partenreship has not the dynamic to compete it. Of course, this interpretation might look mediocre by our “professions” of politics, but, as we have emphasised above, Greece, started its falling, when it integrated its economy into the EU-s structures. Greece turned to become a “consumerist society with the wheat boiled from outside”, since its growth did not underpinned on its expansionist and reformist structures of production, but on the continuing expansion of the consumerism through loans .

The same today in Albania: our economists do not measure our domestic output but its consumerism, and they offer this measurment to “loan-taking” governments in order to exploit it as GDP. But GDP is not an objective measurment, because it measures consumerism, not the output; it measures the export, not the sowing, neither its expansionist nor its rational reforms of the output through natural resources. And in this way, governments (through their economists), lie their electorate, but they lie even themselves, because simply speaking, they contribute to dig a bigger hole in which the first who will fall, is their madness and our country. On the other hand, Berisha’s government has a huge dis-balance as regards wages of the public sector, a fact that makes the situation even worst. And as a consequence of this dis-balance, our government expands private universities and reduces the public one – a university which during the last century has constituted the catalyst of the community. Moreover, the sector of our universities is confronted with what conventionally is called ‘marketing’; i.e. the better you market a university the better the allurement for new clients, where in this case, such client is our child. At present, our university is not prominent of the domestic economy, but it is part of the marketing, no matter of how students will absorb objective knowledge in these institutions. These are the first signs of an ill-managed economy, which in the case of Greece were the same: in Greece, the parallel lack of payment of the balance-shit and of that of the budget, structural crisis, and the finical crisis as symptoms against the foreign public debt, constitute the main elements the economical crisis after the years of 1980. We see clearly these symptoms even in Albanian’s economy, which at present have fallen into the captivity of the right–wing fascist populism. But this is not a local problem, this a global problem, which as Fotopoulos has identified, it has led to a multi-dimensional crisis, which proclaims that truth is in whole, not in the context or in local communities, nor in pure knowledge, as has been acquired by human mind during the last 10 millennia or more, free, without any intervention by super-power or interventionist monetary policies, and as history teaches us through kingdoms or ideologies: “when truth is in the whole then certainty is nowhere”!


1. See, Ylli Përmeti, “Katër Liritë” e FMN-së: Një Kurs Drejt “Rragamit”.
2. See Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΩΣ ΠΡΟΤΕΚΤΟΡΑΤΟ ΤΗΣ ΥΠΕΡΕΘΝΙΚΗΣ ΕΛΙΤ: Η ανάγκη για άμεση έξοδο από την Ε.Ε. και για μια Αυτοδύναμη Οικονομία Ff, 15-16. See Greqia si Protektorat i Elitës Transnacionale: Nevoja për daljen e menjëherëshme nga B.E. dhe për një Ekonomi të Pavarur. Publikuar Tetor 2010, nga shtëpia botuese, Gordhios.
3. ibid, f, 49.
4. ibid, f, 51.
5. See Ekonomia Shqiptare, Arritje dhe Sfida, Konferenca e IV e Bankës së Shqipërisë, f, 237.
6. See Fjalën e Guvernatorit të Bankës së Shqipërisë, z. Ardian Fullani, në takim rajonal në qytetin e Gjirokastrës, 30 shtator 2010, ku analizon ekonominë shqiptare duke shfrytëzuar statisika të INSTAT-it.
7.Fotopulos, f, 52.
8. ibid.
9. See Ramiz Alia, Shpresa dhe Zhgënjime, Dituria, Tiranë, 1993, f, 80.
10. See Genetically Manipulated Crops: The GMO Catastrophe in the USA. A Lesson for the World, By F. William Engdahl.
11. See Glyphosate, Wikipedia.
12. See Ylli Pëmreti, Përtej Ekonomisë së Tregut dhe Planit Shtetëror: Drejt një Ekonomi dhe Demokraci Fronetike, f, 16, versioni pdf.
13. See Ylli Përmeti, Jashtë Bankirët nga Shqipëria Ose...!
14. See Detyrimet ndaj të huajve, Shqipëria u ka borxh 25 shteteve, Shqip, 17/11/2010, nga Ard Kola.
15. See Ekonomia Shqiptare, Arritje dhe Sfida, Konferenca e IV e Bankës së Shqipërisë,f, 238.
16. See Fotopulos, f, 73.
17. ibid, f, 69.

*Extrovirsion in the political economy is that act which is charachterised as an imitation of what the others are donig, losing the essence of an introvert economy, which means, an economy, from the evaluation of real resources that a country offers, based on real commodities, transfers this evaluation into global evaluation, losing in this way the rational and social cirtainty.

Ylli Përmeti, is the author of the book: Demotic and Phronetic Manifesto, who supports, enriches and strengthen Fotopoulo’s (Twards an Inclusive Democracy) and Flyvbjerg’s (Making Social Science Matter) work.

Note: This analysis is part of a complete one that the reader could find on pdf version, attached on the right side, of this site.