Never Know just how you look through other people's eyes...

From the Economist:



Greeks say they are the hardest-working European nation

Stereotypes of Europe

May 30th 2012, 16:13 by J.S. | LONDON

ONCE in a while an opinion poll throws up an insight that is very revealing; yesterday it was the Pew Global survey of European countries. Among the usual questions about attitudes to the euro and the European Union, people in eight nations (Britain, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Poland and Spain) were asked which country in the European Union is the hardest-working. The Greeks ignored the obvious answer (Germany) and instead nominated themselves. (The other seven nations all plumped for Germany, as the table shows.) Yet Greek perception is not quite as misaligned with reality as it seems. Greece does actually work the longest hours in Europe, as this graphic of OECD data shows. However, as any economist will tell you, working longer does not equate with higher productivity, and Greece's productivity is relatively low. The country's predicament is also hindered by corruption. It is viewed as having the second-highest level of corruption after Italy, though Greeks reckon their country is the most corrupt of all.

Among the chuckles I get from this:

What do Italians have against Romania? Among other, more dumb reasons, we have this from USAToday:

Italian authorities say statistics show foreigners commit a disproportionate number of crimes in Italy, and Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said 75% of arrests in the city in the last year involved Romanians.

On the national level, figures from Italy's statistics bureau found that while less than 5% of the population in 2004 were foreigners, foreigners accounted for 26% of all those convicted, although the report cautioned that immigrants were less likely to obtain adequate legal defense.

Romanians have been detained as suspects in several recent crimes, including the rape of a woman on church steps in northern Italy, a Tiber River bank mugging that left a Rome cyclist in a coma for weeks before he died and the robbery of a Milan coffee bar in which the elderly owner was beaten and her daughter raped.

Other recent crimes in which foreigners are suspected include the mugging of Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore, which sent him to the hospital; the holdup of a prominent TV anchorman and the mugging of a Rome municipal commissioner.

The savage beating last week of the wife of an Italian naval commander triggered the decree calling for quick expulsions of some EU citizens after a Romanian was arrested in connection with the assault.

So apparently the answer is, Romanians pick the wrong people to attack.

Why do Poland, Greece, Spain, and the Czech Republic have such self-esteem issues?  I mean, if the choice for most corrupt are "me" and "Italy", and you pick "me",  you may have a self-esteem problem.  This category is the main reason Italy supports Russian membership in the EU.

So is Greece or Italy the least productive?  Well, a study in 2006 found that out of the group listed, it was actually the Czech Republic, who produced $18.60 US dollars per hour per worker.  Then it was Poland at 22.40, Greece at 33.10, and Spain at 34.20.   The German most productive idea got poo-pooed as well; France was tops at $56.50, Italy (!) at 50.30, Germany at 45 even, and the UK at 42 even.  Thopugh I tried really hard, this was the most updated I could find, and may well have changed in 5 years.

And the German people have become angels in  67 years?  Not exactly.  This I exerpted from CNBC:
The notion of widespread German corruption is certainly being addressed publicly. Bernd Hafenberg, an economist reader of the Frankfurter Allgemeine online, recently commented on the discovery that tens of millions of euros had been paid by contractors to civil servants for work on an autobahn in Eastern Germany. “I consider this to be merely the tip of the iceberg,” he wrote. “Based on 45 years’ work experience, Germany is thoroughly corrupt and whoever talks about this is considered a Judas.”
A reader of FT Deutschland concurred: “Corruption is an everyday affair in Germany. I had a business involved in passive road safety systems that went bust because I did not play the game… Manufacturers and construction companies get together, make bids and destroy the competition.”

In other words, sainthood is also relative.