Mack's Busy Biz

In just a few short weeks, the oppressive Mubarak regime in Egypt has been toppled, and a new government is on the way. Like so many people around the world (especially in the Middle East), I have been inspired by Egypt. Instead of democracy, pyramids and the Sphinx, however, my mind and imagination go straight to business.  I look forward to the day that those wonderful Egyptians, and the rest of the world, can enjoy the fruits from this tree of eighty million.

The problem with Egypt’s economy, rather, one of the problems with Egypt’s economy, has been its bloated bureaucracy. Chock full of bureaucrats who are underpaid, underworked, and disrespected, this bureaucracy has been a harmful product of the Mubarak regime.   The theory in its making was, if Mubarak paid millions of people too little to make a living, these people would both be dependent on the government, and would be too busy trying to acquire sustenance to devote its resources to anti-government activities.

The bureaucracy’s characteristics, its structure, its essence, has guaranteed that Egypt’s number one industry has been tourism, rather than commerce, manufacturing, or services despite the fact that Egypt has a huge, well-educated population and the best cotton on the planet.

In 2005, I visited Egypt for the first time. I spent three months there, most of the time in a town called El Mahalla-El Cobra, where my husband was born and raised.   My sister-in-law planned to take about a month off work and take me to Cairo and Alexandria for various reasons, including sightseeing.  The problem was, in order to take leave, she was required to get signatures from many different bureaucrats, in different offices, in different towns. The papers on which the names were signed were no more than notebook paper, torn in half or in thirds, with a sentence and signature next to an X.

Unfortunately for my sister-in-law, she’s a very honest school teacher who doesn’t take tips, or take pay for afterschool tutoring like most other teachers.   (Another problem within the Egyptian system– teachers are bureaucrats, too). As such, she has no patience or money to pay someone in the system for a simple signature. (Teachers in modern Egyptian society are treated much like the teachers of early America. Only in the last few decades have teachers caught up to the rest of the US in salaries. Egyptian teachers, on the other hand, can make as little as $100 a month. Who can live on that?)

She must have made one bureaucrat particularly angry (by not tipping her?) because once she received a signature from one reluctant signer, she was sent back to the same bureaucrat, who sent her somewhere else. It took a month to receive all the signatures that she needed. God help her if her life had depended on it.

The bureaucracy has also helped to dissolve my husband’s family business and has landed at least one family member in jail (thankfully, not one of the torture prisons).

It has been well publicized that Egyptian law requires that foreign companies partner with Egyptians if they want to open businesses (and ostensibly is why Mubarak is so darned rich). This proves too expensive or otherwise unattractive for most companies to even bother.

I would recommend that most small business owners stay away from Egypt until the day that the government and the bureaucracy become business-friendly.  This despite the fact that I love Egyptians and even married one.

So what to do? The answer is simple, but painful. Bureaucrats around the country need to be fired. The bureaucrats that stay need to be paid more, and more needs to be expected from them. There also must be repercussions when they attempt to take baksheesh, and it should be illegal to tip a bureaucrat.

The military has cracked down on the bureaucrats who have asked for baksheesh, in an emergency measure that is meant to protect the common citizens of Egypt. Price gouging has become an arrestable offense. Egyptians subsequently started complaining about low wages, and are currently on a sort of strike.  They don’t want to work, and they don’t want to service tourists who come into the country. Apparently however, they must in order to stimulate the economy. This is ironic considering that foreign tourists are generally very generous.

(Mubarak put a terrible hurting on the economy when he cut off the Internet and allowed the revolution to continue for as long as it did.)

Firing and fixing the bureaucracy will be painful for many. However, by changing laws to invite more money into Egypt, by stimulating new business in Egypt, and by making attractive new jobs available for Egyptians, the country can come out on top.