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Beware of Greeks Bearing Regs...

2012-02-24 17:11:18.229935+00 by petronius 3 comments

Greece is much in the news right now, with an even shot at either ruinous austerity or a Bolshevik putsch. Even if they get bailed out, there are other problems. Here is a story about a group trying to set up an online olive oil business. It took them 10 months to get all the permits. Among the hoops presented for their jumping, the Health Department demanded that all shareholders submit stool samples. Suddenly, Sarbanes-Oxley doesn't sound so bad.

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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2012-02-25 00:30:07.94069+00 by: Dan Lyke

Planet Money did a show a few weeks ago about the Greek guy who was hired by the EU to audit the Greek government, who's now facing some sort of libel or sedition charge for relaying public facts back to the EU. The general impression I got was one of a government that makes Kafka look like a conservative 'how-to' manual, with every bureaucrat if not actively on the take, then at least bending over sideways to attempt to justify not only their own position, but why their input into the government was the only thing keeping the world from collapsing.

The fact that that government and business environment has resulted in something that makes the San Francisco planning department look downright sane seems... well... pretty normal.

#Comment Re: made: 2012-02-25 13:04:15.540582+00 by: meuon

I'm dealing a lot right now with foreign governments. It is interesting and educational. Personally and without any real stats, I seem to see growth and progress in places where the government is willing to let things happen and not over-regulate the details. We just started work in Benin Africa, with a good local partner, I am hopeful their governmental regulations/requirements/process are sane.

I think we had sent some meters to Greece and they are still figuring out if they can legally use them. We did not have to send them stool samples, yet. Laughing.. Maybe that was the problem.

#Comment Re: made: 2012-02-25 17:46:05.077108+00 by: TheSHAD0W

I think some of the protestors there are submitting stool samples... Just not using the standard procedures...