Socialism is not the answer; rather it is an enabling cancer that makes you believe that if you are not productive it is because someone else limited your chances, in short, it is not your fault. In exchange for a vote or two, the government “will take care of you”
Socialism is built on the reckless disregard for basic economics, such as: “you can only spend as much as you make”. Sorry for being as mean spirited as to suggesting that if you did not make the money, maybe you should not be entitled to spend it. Maybe you should not be entitled to the same luxuries as the guy next door who puts in 70-hour weeks of hard work. What a concept.
Europe led the way to Socialism. If you peel off all the theoretical definitions, it comes down to the popular believe that capitalism cumulates wealth and power among an elite minority of society, and that such elite minority derives its wealth through the “exploitation” of the working class. Simply expressed, if you have a job you are being exploited. It is thus the responsibility of the government to impose corrective measures through re-distribution of such wealth to provide equal opportunities for everyone (sound familiar?).
European countries with a highly productive society, such as Germany, France, Italy, have been able to fund their Socialism through high taxation of its work force. Other, less productive countries (PIGS members) lived way over their means.
Let’s see if we can put real numbers into perspective. The Budget Deficits as a percentage of GDP of the PIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) are:
• Portugal – 9.3%
• Ireland – 12%
• Greece 13%
• Spain 11.4%.
Today, these countries face financial Apocalypse, even though their tax rates have been around the 50% mark for quite some time. You may have followed recent news which reported about the riots in Greece. These riots are organized by people who just got word from their government that they can no longer count on “all” the entitlements they have grown used to over the past 50 years. How dare the government wanting to reduce the freebies. It is almost funny to hear some of the media refer to these riots and the underlying causes with an arrogant undertone, as if this is a European phenomenon. The sad truth is that our federal deficit puts the US right into the group of PIGS. With a mind boggling 10.5% deficit of Gross Domestic (Product) Output we are about to overpass most European countries. Our Gross Domestic Product went from $13.4 Trillion in 2006, to only $14.6 trillion in 2010, a total of 9.14% growth over 4 years. Our Deficit went from 1.85% of GDP to a staggering 10.64% of GDP, an increase of 475% for the same period. This is before most of the new legislative measures have taken effect. Of course, healthcare reform is supposed to “reduce” our budget deficit, and further stimuli (there will be more, take my word for it) will be shrugged under the carpet and won’t count because they supposedly will create jobs.
At least, the PIGS countries have some very rich neighbors who have decided to bail them out. Who are our neighboring countries? Good luck in asking Mexico and Canada to help us out.
Maybe it is time to set all partisan bickering aside and focus on the problem at hand. Ideology, class warfare, sucking the few that produce liquidity dry, and campaigning rather than governing, will not get us there. It is time to pull out a cheap calculator because it is not rocket science, and to stipulate to the “facts and figures”. Our leaders owe us honesty and respect for those 50% who are productive and keep this country going. Remember, if you take away the incentive and make their lives impossible, you may end up with only the 50% that do not produce.
