Written by Skipper Kagamaster

Thursday, 27 May 2010 05:10

Greek riot police with a bunch of freeloaders in the background.

Photograph: Alkis Konstantinidis/AP

It has often been said that the US lags behind Europe by five or six years. As much as that chafes our pro-American, flag-waiving, gun-toting, bible-thumping hides; sometimes it's all too true. Especially with Greece right now.

You see, the Greeks have long been living in what many of us in America might refer to as a welfare state. Far-reaching welfare safety nets, social security that would make a Democrat blush, socialized medicine; etc. From an Obama voter's perspective, the Greeks had it all. But, to paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, socialism will only work until you run out of other people's money. For Greece, that's kind of true. They ran out of their own money, so the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had to bail them out. It would seem they're not quite out of other people's money.

Of course, every check from a governmental body comes with strings attached. The EU/IMF is calling Greece to task on several of its practices, with spending reform right at the top of the list. It seems those investing in Greece's success have little confidence in the country's ability to succeed on their own, given their track record. Can't say that we blame them.

This has union workers and anarchists (even experts can't tell the one from the other) out in force doing what peace loving leftists do best: throwing stuff at cops. It seems that some people, once they have a taste of that sweet free pie, won't let any entitlements go without a fight. This adds a nice and volatile social layer to Greece's fiscal concerns.

Is this a harbinger for America's future if we continue down the path to socialism? Let's hope not, but hope and reality don't always coincide. It's pretty clear that, should we outspend ourselves too handily (with a debt to GDP ratio fixed to fly over 100%, that's not a difficult future to imagine), there's nowhere to go but bankrupt. The problem is, the world has a lot more to lose from a bankrupt and floundering America than from a bankrupt and floundering Greece. After all, it's not Greece's military which allows the members of the EU to spend, combined, less than half of America's military budget. How long does the EU/IMF think we can continue to subsidize Europe's military (so the EU can play social welfare giver to its people) before we go the way of Greece? And what happens to the European experiment in socialism when they have to ante up their share in the game?

Maybe a more pressing question: who's going to bail us out if we keep this spending spree up? And what strings will be attached to the check?