This week there were riots in the streets of Greece, where people were protesting government austerity measures to keep the country from going bankrupt. Let's examine this.
These austerity measures had to be approved for Greece to get the last $17 billion of a $156 billion debt crisis relief package that was granted last year by its European neighbors - some of whom aren't in the best fiscal shape, either.
Most of the protesters were younger, in part because they may not be able to have the cushy life of their parents. To wit:
*There was a hike in the retirement age to 65 from as low as 61. (61! And this in a country where shorter workdays and 6 weeks of vacation annually are the norm.)
*There will be a 33% increase in gas, cigarette, and alcohol taxes
*There will be far fewer goverment jobs, and government health spending will decrease
To the poor people of Greece I say, Boo Freaking Hoo. You brought this on yourself, kicking the can down the road for decades. You knew your government-funded lifestyle was unsaustainable, you just didn't have the guts to do anything about it. Or maybe no one was showing up for work to vote on changing things.
The thing of it is, America may not be so far behind. We've been kicking the can down the road for years, too, not fixing our own fiscally unsustainable social programs.
So let's learn from Greece's mistakes. They are in for a big-time recession now. But if we implemented some of their other austerity measures, it could help avoid that. For example, beyond reforming their version of social security, they are cutting education spending by closing or merging schools. We can and should do that, notably here in Iowa, where some entire school districts have under 100 high schoolers.
Let's do something now, to keep Uncle Sam from becoming Greece-y.
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