by S. Noble • July 4, 2015
The Greek people are in danger of having their personal accounts raided by the government. The rumor planted by The Financial Times could be true or it could be a ploy to swing the upcoming elections which will determine if they stay in the EU, but what is definitely true is that leftist policies of redistribution and social justice are at the bottom of the problem. Greece’s path is the path we now follow.
How did the Greeks get to this place?
To start, a quarter of government spending goes to paying government employees. They are top heavy with over-paid and underutilized bureaucrats. Government has overtaken the innovative private sector and all sectors for that matter.
Greece has a 25.6% unemployment rate and youth unemployment is at about 49.9%.
They owe billions and their debt to GDP is at 175%. Under Obama, we’re at 102.6%. Our debt is over $18 trillion. Donald Trump has said that when we reach about $24 trillion, we will be Greece.
“According to the economists — who I’m not big believers in, but, nevertheless, this is what they’re saying — that $24 trillion — we’re very close — that’s the point of no return. $24 trillion. We will be there soon. That’s when we become Greece. That’s when we become a country that’s unsalvageable. And we’re gonna be there very soon. We’re gonna be there very soon.”
Once an economy accumulates a mountain of debt equal to its entire, national, economic output; that economy no longer has sufficient financial/economic mass to (responsibly) “service” this mountain of debt. Every year we pass the point of no-return, we are incurring incredible harm to the economy. It’s hard to know what that point of no-return is but we should be taking steps to prevent it.
The banks, the rich, and Capitalism are easy targets when people look around for others to blame. Who, however, is forcing any of these politicians to borrow on so-called future earnings or to subsidize not knowing where the money is coming from? The constant giving in to union demands and building up of unsustainable benefits and pensions is not orchestrated by banks.
The banks are evil for loaning money and expecting it back according to the left.
Politicians run up debt to get re-elected on the promise of a pie-in-the-sky Utopia of public sector employees, few private enterprises, and lots of freebies for the “oppressed” which ends up being most people along the way. All want in on the action.
The bureaucracy in Greece grew faster than all other sectors. Once unionized, people can’t be fired and dead weight overwhelms agencies. Competition and innovation wither away.
Daniel Greenfield in his Front Page Magazine article, “Social Justice is the Root of All Debt,” compared the current crisis in Greece to Detroit and many of our big cities:
“Detroit had 55 residents per government employee. Half the city’s residents didn’t pay property taxeswhich were the highest of any major city. The employment rate wasn’t pretty. The third largest “industry” was education and health care, both mostly government subsidized, the fifth biggest industry was government. Fourth was manufacturing, which in Detroit has hovered around being state-owned.”
The left beats down opposition with class warfare and populist promises. Radical socialist Bernie Sanders has promised a “political revolution” to combat income inequality, curb climate change and drastically reform the campaign finance system. He also promises a top-tier tax rate of 90%, redistribution, climate extremism, and unlimited union financing of campaigns.
https://www.independentsentinel.com/u-s-has-adopted-greeces-formula-for-success/
