Sharing the debt...

Have you been following the Greece debaucle?

This seems truly amazing to me, and probably to all of us that see personal responsibility as part of the commitment to being a contributing member of a society...

For those of you not following along, there is a large, vocal, and violent contingent in Greece basically protesting that their government is unable to extract enough money from its citizens to give them the things they are 'entitled' to. They have burnt buildings. People have been killed. And the mayhem continues.

The country is, by most measures, bankrupt. The EU and IMF are about to bail them out (and yes, some of our money is in there too), but they require in return that the Greece government reduce their rampant spending. This is the basis for the protests...apparently the good people of Greece believe the remainder of the EU should pay for their spending...sound vaguely familiar from your experience here? Health Care? Record deficits? Stimulus Frenzy? Cash for Clunkers? Wall Street Bailouts? NONE of these have been paid for with money we have. ALL of it is borrowed. EVERY PENNY!

Here's an interesting bit from WSJ contributor John Cohchrane:

"The only way to solve the underlying euro-zone fiscal mess (and our own) is to slash government spending and to focus on growth. Countries only pay off debts by growing out of them. And no, growth does not come from spending, especially on generous pensions and padded government payrolls. Greece’s spending (on goverment programs) of over 50% of GDP did not result in robust growth and full coffers. At least the looming worldwide sovereign debt crisis is heaving “fiscal stimulus” on the ash heap of bad ideas." (we hope).

parenthetical comments and emphasis added by yours truly :)

Are we smart enough as a people to vote for fiscal responsibility or do we spend ourselves into the riots we are watching in Greece? How is it possible that people believe that they can riot their way into someone elses pocketbooks? Or vote themselves there?

You can choose to share in the creation of wealth today, OR your children can pay back YOUR debt tomorrow.

We MUST stop the expansion of government. Isn't it obvious?