The lessons of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and California for the U.S.

Over a century ago, I think it was de Tocqueville who quipped that democracy would work well in America until politicians figured out they can buy votes with benefits, programs, etc. We hit that point a long time back, and both liberals and conservatives have been guilty. Left-wing Democrats and Obama, however, are the most culpable so far.



Look at the patterns for the economic problems in Western Europe and many places in the U.S. such as California. In Europe, Italy is the latest (following Greece, Ireland and Portugal) to go into a financial crisis.



It is not rocket science to figure out how this happens on the city, state and national levels. Politicians offer high wages, generous retirements to government employees. Government lowers the retirement age and promises big benefits. Government employees and their unions, become strong political supporters.The poor a given handouts rather than real opportunities to improve their lot. The government really doesn't want these folks to become successful. Once their dependence on handouts end, they no longer need those politicians. The public slowly gets drawn in with programs. Anyone who hints that benefits, salaries, etc. might have to be cut will not get elected. The politician with the best handout package is likely to get elected. The deficits balloons and default and bankruptcy become likely. The government responds with job-creation programs that only exacerbate the deficit and creates no long-term jobs. Domestic and foreign investors get nervous and cut back. With no private sector investment, no jobs are resuscitated and no new jobs are created. Government bond ratings go down and the issuers have to raise the interest rates to get new borrowers. Leftists try to play the race card and the politics of envy. They blame corporations and Wall Street, when it's government that started and created the basic mess. It's a vicious circle. Austerity programs bring discontent and rioting. You don't have to be a genius to see that this is where the U.S. is headed. You can argue that this will not happen to the world's largest economy. However, when will China become the world's largest and most powerful economy and then the U.S. has to dance to all the Chinese, Saudi and other U.S. debt buyers? The handwriting is on the wall! If you can't figure out who to vote against in the 2012 presidential elections, there's no hope for you. However, it goes beyond that, vote for people with some realistic understanding of real world economics. As the Trojans said "beware of Greeks bearing gifts."

More economic common sense

Have you ever found an article that says what you want to say, but says it a lot better than you can. This article on Greece, Ireland, and the European economic crisis says it all and has a message for America. Government financed job-creation programs only create temporary jobs, increase the deficit and exacerbate economic uncertainty. The unemployment rate in the U.S. is not going to go down markedly until the private sector feels confident enough to invest in America. That's one thing that the left and "occupiers" don't seem to get.

Plain & True Talk about politicians and huge budget deficits.

Plain and True talk about huge budget deficits at both the state and federal level:

Ralph Martire, head of Illinois' liberal-leaning Center for Tax and Budget Accountability,” stated

“Politicians promise more services but won't raise taxes to pay for them, Martire said. They depend on budget games and shortcuts instead and wind up blowing holes in the budget. Voters then get used to the idea that they can have services without any pain, and they reject politicians who say otherwise.

"That's nonsense, but they believe it because that's the track record. Eventually, you run out of those games you can play," Martire said.”
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