We Need To Learn From Greece

We all need to be paying attention to what is happening in Greece these days. Those in Washington absolutely MUST pay attention.

Greece is in financial meltdown. Many years of over spending, questionable lending practices, the world financial mess, and a complete lack of financial reform has taken the country to the brink of bankruptcy. Greece's national debt now is $413,600,000,000. This is more than the country produces in a year. By the end of 2010, the debt will be 120% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).

Greece has asked it's partners in the EU to help bail them out. So far, there has been no agreement to do so - the other members don't see enough changes being put into place to rectify the causes of the emergency. They don't want to dump their money into Greece, just to give them a temporary bailout. Greece's problems are spreading, with Portugal and Ireland showing signs of the same issues. The Euro (which a few months ago was being touted by many countries as the replacement for the dollar for international commerce) is at its lowest point in five years, and it will continue to drop in value.

Greece has implemented what they see as tough budgetary measures to address the situation. Retirement benefits have been pushed back in age for two years. Much higher taxes on fuel, tobacco, alcohol, and other 'sin' items have been levied. Government job pay has been cut. Tough new rules on tax evasion have been adopted. The population is in an uproar, with strikes becoming commonplace. All this MAY reduce the deficit by $10,000,000,000. All of that pain to get rid of a small fraction of the debt ......

So, why should we pay attention?

If Obama's 2010 budget is adopted, the commitments it makes will have our country sitting with debt at 200% of GDP by 2020. And that is only from the 2010 budget commitments - it does not count anything added to the budgets 2011-2020. Greece's woes come from only 120% ... The financial meltdown we are headed for makes Greece look like a banker's paradise!

Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and their minions are writing checks for hundreds of billions of dollars that we don't have, that we will never have. Do they care? Absolutely not. They know their time in power will be short, so they are trying to implement as much of their far left agenda as quickly as they can, consequences be damned.

Obama makes pretty public speeches about fiscal responsibility, about cutting budgets, about being smart with our money. ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT. The cuts he talks about are a tiny fraction of what he turns around and spends, and are just a smokescreen to divert our attention away from what they are doing.

Republicans in Congress absolutely MUST block any and every Obama spending measure they can. Our country's future is on the line, and it is as plain as day to anyone who will bother to look.