I came across an article today about the utter despair most Greeks are facing as their economic crisis worsens. An excerpt is as follows:
Greek media have since reported similar suicides almost daily, worsening a sense of gloom going into next week’s election, called after Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s interim government completed its mandate to secure a new rescue dealfrom foreign creditors by cutting spending further.
Some medical experts say this form of political suicide is a reflection of the growing despair and sense of helplessness many feel. But others warn the media may be amplifying the crisis mood with its coverage and numbers may only be up slightly.
“The crisis has triggered a growing sense of guilt, a loss of self-esteem and humiliation for many Greeks,” Nikos Sideris, a leading psychoanalyst and author in Athens, told Reuters.
“Greek people don’t want to be a burden to anyone and there’s this growing sense of helplessness. Some develop an attitude of self-hatred and that leads to self-destruction. That’s what’s behind the increase in suicide and attempted suicide. We’re seeing a whole new category: political suicides.”
Unfortunately, what we see now in Greece is the human cost that continues to befall their country in the wake of their economic meltdown. Through their endless expansion of government, irreverent spending and disregard to their growing national debt, Greece has become the poster-child for the failure of socialism. Margaret Thatcher said, “…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financialmess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money.” More commonly it has been paraphrased, “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
What we see in Greece is the net result of when government programs and spending reach a critical mass and the whole system implodes. Riots, suicides and general unrest are the beginning of its troubles. As it continues to make austerity moves the suffering and unrest will only worsen. Worse, it may spread like dominoes to other nations of the EU that adopted such socialistic programs.
The problem is: socialism sounds good but in practice is a failure. In the end instead of equalizing the wealth, it will destroy it and the lives of its citizens. It produces an inevitable race to the bottom where everyone suffers. Time and time again both history and current events support this notion.
So where are we now in the United States? 16 trillion dollars in debt to the Chinese, an Obama administration without any sort of plan for the future, mindless national spending, a Buffet tax meant to punish the successful, a congress that can’t pass a budget in 3 years, a government that that has not been as divided since 1861, and an inexperienced president who is leading our country directly into the gutter. Where do you think all his heading?
Shouldn’t we learn from Greece’s follies and rethink our economic policies, reconsider our pork-filled spending or at least balance a national budget? Is that not too much to ask? Are we not headed in the same footsteps as Greece? Will riots and suicides fill our streets? Are we also headed for economic collapse?
Unfortunately, the answer seems obvious. If we don’t make a change and now, the future looks grim.