Tuesday- Conclusions and disilusions

Tuesday morning came and went quickly. So quickly thaτ I could not even understand it even existed. I was busy writing and working on articles in the laptop, but I was also thinking. I was pondering on the situation in Albania and Albania society. Everyone that looks toward Albanian economics can understand that the indicators are looking “good”. This is only half trae. How good can things be in a country that has come this close to rocking bottom? How good can things be when there are so devastating social differences? How good can things be when development is dependant solely on the will and money of foreign investors and financial aid? And how good can things look when these elites head the country into a big financial Hubble, that is about to be burst in a really violent and devastating way? I tell you this is not as good as indicators show. The social contradictions are too big to ignore, and any kind of development comes and goes in pieces. Wages are very low and pensioners barely survive, with the help of their children and the imigrants of the family. A great deal of the income of most Albanian familiεs comes from members of the family that live and work abroad. In the States, Canada, Italy, Greece, the UK. Then again there is a big influx of yuppies , especially from crisis stricken sountries like Greece and Italy. Loads of executives that have moved to the country in search of an investment opportunity or a job that can provide them the comforts they will miss back home. On another note, the country is a fértile ground for any kind of profitteer. From bankers to dubious investors to mobsters and subcontractors with connections in high places, almost any kind of foreign businessman with aknack of bribing, Sterling and even killing in order to aquire the said rights. The type of businessman that Works and invests in the country, is the cut-throat sporting a bow-tie, a tuxeedo and a 500 dollar-a-piece gold plated watch. These vultures stand to gain a lot, while thw locals gain way less rights and Money. They have also given their helping hand in creating the Albanian version of a real estate bubble, by buying loads of properties along the coast and in Tirana itself, whithout caring about the consequences that the bursting of such a bubble might have on ordinary Albanians. Anyway, by noon I was in the airport, and climbing aboard the Olympic Airways Bombardier that would take me back to Athens. I was on the return of the greek yuppie trek. Yet, I wanted to see more of the country. At one point I would be back, in order to visit the “real Albania”. And that was the Albanian parto f Kosovo, with the high plateus and the towers…