Greece-berg, right ahead.
Posted on 02/27/2010 7:05:11 PM PST by JLS
While Barack Obama was making his latest pitch for a brand new, even more unsustainable entitlement at the health care "summit," thousands of Greeks took to the streets to riot. An enterprising cable network might have shown the two scenes on a continuous split-screen - because they're part of the same story. It's just that Greece is a little further along in the plot: They're at the point where the canoe is about to plunge over the falls. America is further upstream and can still pull for shore, but has decided, instead, that what it needs to do is catch up with the Greek canoe. Chapter One (the introduction of unsustainable entitlements) leads eventually to Chapter 20 (total societal collapse): The Greeks are at Chapter 17 or 18.
What's happening in the developed world today isn't so very hard to understand: The 20th century Bismarckian welfare state has run out of people to stick it to. In America, the feckless insatiable boobs in Washington, Sacramento, Albany and elsewhere are screwing over our kids and grandkids. In Europe, they've reached the next stage in social democratic evolution: There are no kids or grandkids to screw over. The United States has a fertility rate of around 2.1 – or just over two kids per couple. Greece has a fertility rate of about 1.3: 10 grandparents have six kids have four grandkids – i.e., the family tree is upside down. Demographers call 1.3 "lowest-low" fertility – the point from which no society has ever recovered. And, compared with Spain and Italy, Greece has the least-worst fertility rate in Mediterranean Europe.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Steyn ping opportunity.
Bump
“Think of Greece as California: Every year an irresponsible and corrupt bureaucracy awards itself higher pay and better benefits paid for by an ever-shrinking wealth-generating class. And think of Germany as one of the less-profligate, still-just-about-functioning corners of America such as my own state of New Hampshire: Responsibility doesn’t pay. You’ll wind up bailing out, anyway. The problem is there are never enough of “the rich” to fund the entitlement state, because in the end it disincentivizes everything from wealth creation to self-reliance to the basic survival instinct, as represented by the fertility rate. In Greece, they’ve run out Greeks, so they’ll stick it to the Germans, like French farmers do. In Germany, the Germans have only been able to afford to subsidize French farming because they stick Americans with their defense tab. And, in America, Obama, Pelosi and Reid are saying we need to paddle faster to catch up with the Greeks and Germans. What could go wrong?”
This is one of his best columns.
Since FreeRepublic was founded in CA, I knew many here would like that reference.
“Since FreeRepublic was founded in CA, I knew many here would like that reference.”
Lived there for many years myself. Left in 1999 when the downward spiral became obvious.
Brutal and accurate. Retirement at 58, paid for by people who retire at 67. Sweet deal. Let's not try it.
Greece-berg, right ahead.
face down in the ouzo
We are a self-sustaining community. Government acquisition of our work will result in a push back.
Yes I enjoyed the ouzo line too.
we still have time to paddle for shore but the roar of the falls is getting closer...
“We hard-hearted small-government guys are often damned as selfish types who care nothing for the general welfare. But, as the Greek protests make plain, nothing makes an individual more selfish than the socially equitable communitarianism of big government: Once a chap’s enjoying the fruits of government health care, government-paid vacation, government-funded early retirement, and all the rest, he couldn’t give a hoot about the general societal interest; he’s got his, and to hell with everyone else. People’s sense of entitlement endures long after the entitlement has ceased to make sense.”
And this is why communism works on paper, but not in reality. Socialism as well. Human nature debunks the idea of ‘everyone working for the common good’.
“Germans, who retire at 67, are now expected to sustain the unsustainable 14 monthly payments per year of Greeks who retire at 58.”
Yeah, this would tick me off too.
As usual, Steyn is always dead on the mark. He’s one of the few writers where I always click the link to go to the article. Most others, if it’s not posted in its entirety on FR, I don’t bother to read.
BTTT
Doesn't matter where you live, you'll soon be bailing out California, New York, Illinois, et al.
Mark Steyn makes the case. He's being Paul Revere, here.
Good comment:
In New York we have a whole group of Greek public sector workers . We call them our congressmen, state and city representatives. One Congressman doesn’t pay taxes , has 4 rent controlled houses and takes luxury vacations paid for by corporations he is supposed to regulate. His excuses are I forgot, didn’t know and no one told me. The good news is Charles Rangel as Chairman of The House Ways and Means is the one who makes the US tax laws
So, if you don’t want to pay on April 15 apparently “ I forgot “ is now acceptable . My congresswoman Caroline Maloney —who walks around in a burkha to protest anti Muslim sentiment, in case it ever happens — was worth 2 million when she got into office she now worth 25 million with no other visible means of support other than her salary.
My city councilman is out on bail for stealing over one million dollars last year from the petty cash drawer –and I’m not kidding ! I could go on…and on
I disagree with Mark on one point , however. The feckless boobs are we : the voters who keep sending these people to Albany , Sacramento and DC. Until we vote out everybody in office now—if only to show we still can— and then petition for constitutional term limits : the clowns win
2/27/2010 1:42 PM PST on OCRegister.com
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