A nation with explosive debt.
A nation with unemployment in double digits.
A nation whose citizens depend on government services that consume the majority of its spending.
A nation with upcoming elections that will determine its direction.
A nation seeking financial support from its allies.
That nation, in this writing, is Greece.
Greece is seeking a new infusion of 240 billion Euros, about $208 billion, while rejecting the requirement to trim its spending.
Countries of the Euro Zone are demanding that Greece cut its government spending that's now 20 percent smaller than in 2008 after years of deep recession.
Greece has an unemployment rate of 21.7 percent with a staggering 54 percent rate of unemployment among workers 15-24 years of age.
The lack of leadership and confidence recently caused citizens to withdraw 700 million Euros, $898 million, from local banks in Greece. President Karlos Papoulias noted the risk that banks are running out of money as a "threat to our national existence."
In the International Business Times, Swedish Prime Minister Anders Borg warned those attending a Brussels meeting of European Union finance ministers, "We are very close to the end of the road. The situation is very serious."
The situation is dire. There is a national crisis.
Will America's citizenry continue to demand and vote for those whose shallow rhetoric depends upon promises of services and benefits? Will the "leaders of America" have the courage to speak truthfully about the unsustainable path that Greece is on with the U.S. in its shadow? Will our Congress, regardless of political party, stop spending and face the crisis it has created at the beckon of the voters? Will our nation's creditors speak the same warnings over America?
Jing ji wei ji. That's Chinese for economic crisis, just so you'll recognize it.
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Maybe the Greeks are right to resent foreign powers telling them how to run their country. Especially when those foreign powers are following the will of international banks and financiers, which has set about making Greece a target of their predatory behavior.
And if Congress stops spending, you know what will happen? A major economic death spiral in this country. And a lot of other things will go wrong, including unemployment, and bridge repairs. Maybe you didn't mean it that way, but your choice of phrasing is very indelicate. It might reveal your true intent. Not that Republicans will cut spending, they'll just re-direct it to their friends and cohorts. Did you see their attempt to add 600 billion to the military this week? Despite their promise to abide by a cut last year?
So you know who has shallow rhetoric? Republicans, who promise tax cuts and cost-cutting, and whatnot, but you know what's also unsustainable? Starving yourself to death. Also speaking of shallow, they promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but weren't they supposed to replace it? Oh wait, they stopped trying to come up with a replacement for some reason.
Let me borrow from Chinese:
hùnzhàng
The advantage of spending is that we have no intention of repaying the borrowed money. We continue to borrow until the dollar collapses. That could happen suddenly as it did with the Soviet Union in 1989. Even if you have money in the bank, you would not be able to access it.
If we cut spending, we move directly into deflation. If we cut enough to balance the budget, empoyment would collapse, prices would fall and the lender class would be destroyed in short order. The borrower class would simply slowly starve.
We dug this hole and there is no way out without extreme economic distress. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have a good plan because there is none. We are about to find out how resourseful we are when faced with a level of hardship that we have never known.
Will we car-pool with our neighbors? Will we grow food in our gardens? Will we share houses with others to help pay the bills?
Or will we get angry and violent when we and our children are hungry?
Greece is our preview.
All aboard - tickets, please .....
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