Back to the basics of a sick economy

So many more opportunities have gone down the drain again, this time from the Recovery and Resilience Fund, worth some €36 billion. It's as if the Greek economy is doomed to change only as much as allows it to remain mired in its customary model of cheap labor and low productivity. It is a model that relies chiefly on high consumption and less so on investments (hence the investment gap), which, however, are still centered chiefly in the labor-intensive, low-output and low-added value sectors of transportation and construction. They do not enhance productive capacity, strengthen the knowledge-based economy or improve productivity in modern sectors, in internationally tradable goods.

Ultimately, we are losing competitiveness, imports are increasing disproportionately compared to exports and the trade deficit is growing and creating a black hole in the current account balance,...