[Leica] Leica finances

[douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp)]

Chris,

Indeed they do - but that the German government is 
honest is a moot point. Members of parliament are not 
as open to bribery and corruption as in many other 
countries, but the party system is riddled with 
financing from often dubious sources.

As is the case in numerous other countries, government 
decisions are strongly influenced and supported 
financial by 1) the church, 2) Trade and industry 
federations, 3) lobbying  - particularly by the power 
generation, pharmaceuticals, insurance, banking, 
automotive and arms segments (sounds familiar:-) ). At 
municipal, local and regional levels of government, 
backhanders, bribery and corruption are actually quite 
common - mostly in conjunction with getting planning 
permission for building projects or fixing tenders for 
municipal works.

I think that, based on available income, the cost of 
living and the benefits to be expected on retirement, 
the Greek civil servants do not necessarily earn more, 
but are very probably better off in the long run than 
their counterparts in Germany.

Cheers
Douglas

On 20.08.2011 23:06, Chris Crawford wrote:
> Don't German workers get very generous vacations, sick pay, etc. as well? I
> still have a hard time believing that Greek civil servants earn more than
> German government employees. Greece is a poor country and has a lot of
> corruption in government. Germany is a rich country with an honest
> government. Its not surprising that Germany's government is more efficient.
>
>