A Distant Mirror

Although the MSM is happy to show us Greek citizens by the tens of thousands rioting in the streets, our media does little to provide Americans with the necessary context to understand what’s happening and why it matters to us. When you look at Greek union members protesting cuts in excessive pay rates the government sanctioned pensions, or Greek citizens protesting cradle-to-grave entitlements that include a broad array of state welfare programs, health care and other profligate government spending, what you’re really watching is the United States in a distant mirror.

The Obama administration and the congressional majority continues to push for big-government, instantiate massive new entitlements, and implement “reform” measures that reform nothing and at the same time increase both costs and taxes. They play class warfare in the futile and delusional hope that somehow the “rich” will pay for it all. And as a result, following in the tradition of both Democrat and Republican administrations before them, they rapidly expand our already backbreaking debt.

If we don’t change their approach now, in the not too far distant future, we will become Greece—with all of its financial problems, and far scarier, with all of its recent strife.

Robert Samuelson comments:

… With aging societies, advanced countries have promised more benefits than their tax bases can support. Hence, high government debt. Greece is merely the canary in the coal mine. But politicians resist cutting popular benefits except under extreme pressure. It takes a crisis …

President Obama seems to use the word “crisis” on a daily basis—heath crisis, energy crisis, education crisis, Wall Street crisis, and yes, economic crisis. But he doesn’t seem to realize that his own ideology and the programs it spawns are the primary driver behind a Greek-like debt crisis to come.

What’s really scary is the social upheaval that will assuredly occur if we let our debt grow too large and are then forced to make massive cuts in entitlements. The resultant events will make historical riots in Watts and Liberty City look like a Sunday Picnic. And if it does come to pass, a then ex-President Obama will plead for calm and wonder rhetorically about the cause. All he needs to do is look in a mirror.