Documents have disappeared from the foundations
Suspicions of money being taken. Not all contracts will be valid. Sudja escapes from prison
Alimuçaj: Clients, beware of VEFA’s opponents. No problem withdrawing 1,000 dollars from us
A battle of nerves between the state and the people
. By not speaking about the difficulties, the Government further angers the depositors in the pyramid schemes. The optimistic tones in which senior state officials, from the President of the Republic down, frame the dilemma of hundreds of thousands of Albanians over recovering their money from the foundations seem unable to resolve every question mark. Indeed, it seems that every step taken toward the promised solution multiplies its uncertainties in geometric progression. The pyramid schemes themselves give the impression that a long battle of nerves has broken out between the state and the people. The latter, although it is not very pleasant to admit, seems to have taken the position of an angry observer—an angry observer who, psychologically, finds it easier to believe that something bad will happen than the promised good. The state, meanwhile, is frozen, frightened by the possible consequences of a fire in whose ignition it itself played no small part. If one accepts these observations and their implied truth, one can to some extent undo what seems paradoxical: people find it easier to expect the worst. Perhaps a [f]istful of anger, gathered from the sudden shattering of the dream of living off the fictitious wealth of the pyramid schemes, is irresponsibly trying to erupt again somewhere, seeking more a reason to do so than to calm their troubled [s]pirits after the money is returned. But why is the state afraid? Perhaps it tends to feel the weight of its guilt over the shattering of the aforementioned dream. Not simply because it broke the dream—or, if it did not do so itself, allowed and helped bring about its interruption—but because, even if it did not create it itself, it allowed and contributed to its creation. But perhaps it may also be because it too realizes that not everything will go smoothly, just as the gathered anger of the people realizes that not everything will go smoothly. It is not that there is no way out, but our government officials became frightened there. So much time spent in disagreements over accepting the rules has taught them to speak only in clichés and prefabricated phrases, where goodness is the monopoly of those who invoke it, while evil is solely the product of the opponent. Perhaps a little more transparency about the Commission’s work, the Government’s work, the actual prospects for repayment, and the state’s own responsibility for the rise of the pyramids would serve the people and calm them more; but it would also serve the Government, by not forcing it to make dark, face-saving declarations even when it is incapable of carrying them out. After all, the 5th has arrived, and the Government has little time left to make good on its word, as a mark of Albanian identity. Looking at the law on distributing the foundations’ assets, it is not very difficult to spot the abuses. But above all, the Government itself reflects a lack of transparency regarding the pyramid-scheme problem. It seems there are differences in the information circulating within the Government. Above all, the Meksi cabinet is not communicating with the people, leaving them alone in a state of psychological anxiety.
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