Today we are facing a great paradox: on the one hand, the severe economic crisis is closing businesses, destroying jobs, and reducing wages. The sudden rise in unemployment and the decline in family incomes threaten hundreds of thousands of households with the specter of poverty. Never before in modern Greek history have we had such a need for social protection.

On the other hand, favoring piecemeal solutions, prioritizing the partial interest (of the group) over the general interest (of society), and hindering mature reforms, we have managed to have a social protection system today that is tailored to the needs of the powerful groups but completely unsuitable and unprepared to address the social consequences of the crisis. The demand and supply of social protection are dangerously "out of sync". It is therefore an urgent need to put this paradox at the center of public discussion: not so much to assign blame, but primarily to find solutions.

The "equalizing reform" outlined in the book is not proposed as the key to all doors, but it is a contribution to the reconstruction of social policy, even in the midst of austerity. With the belief that a modern, sustainable, and effective social safety net is one of the components of the not-so-secret recipe that can allow a country to emerge from the crisis with society standing tall.