Greece is the Word

I haven't seen much in the way of TV news lately but my sense is that the enfeebled entity we refer to as the media has overlooked this major story. Here's the deal: Greece is bankrupt. See also, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain; California.

It's an increasingly common problem, but as Bob Dole once observed, I have to wonder: "Where's the outrage?"

It's not news, of course, that governments tend to be irresponsible. That's their nature, I guess. but really bad things can happen when government's are irresponsible. War, famine, genocide - these are REALLY bad things, and as I see it we are moving inexorably towards these things. Greece is the best example of how it starts and where it can lead; of course no one is paying attention. (ed. - How can we? American Idol is on!)

Here is a short article on the subject from the reactionary BBC. Go read it. I'll wait. There's even a video.

The common thread in government failure isn't the economy. Nor is it natural disasters or the weather. Those are excuses and government loves excuses it can blame its problems on. Haiti was a study in abject failure long before the earthquake.

The problem is government itself.

Government is a parasite. Does it provide necessary and vital services? Of course. I am not an anarchist. Government always grows in the name of one good cause after another until it consumes the host. Our Founding fathers understood this.

We the People? We are the host.

If we stand by and do nothing we will, eventually, die. Sounds dire, I know, but death comes in many forms. It may be a collapse of our standard of living; it may be war. But it's the path we are on in this world, no question about it.

There is no free lunch. There never was. Government, especially government workers, never understand this.

But the bill always comes due eventually.

In Greece they can't pay it. California is right around the corner - just watch.

The only option is to let them fail. As we should have done with GM and Chrysler. It will be painful, but much less painful than pretending we can fix the problem another way.

Because it can't be done - and all the wishful thinking in the world (see, well-intentioned liberals) won't change that. All the other fixes (i.e., bail-outs) are just band-aids. A band-aid will never stop gangrene from spreading.

The government in Greece - the birthplace of western democracy - is gangrene to the body politic. It must be excised, and government workers understand this:

The unions regard the austerity programme as a declaration of war against the working and middle classes… “It’s a war against workers and we will answer with war, with constant struggles until this policy is overturned,” said Christos Katsiotis, a union member affiliated to the Communist Party, at the Athens rally.

It is a war.

I just wonder who will win.