A Greek Tragedy: The Sin of Eco-PC
Col Mike Walker, USMC (ret.)
All,
As Greece prepares to exit the Euro currency confederation in full crisis mode let us put a large share of blame for the crisis on economic political correctness (Eco-PC).
That is not to say that responsibility for the underlying financial meltdown lies anywhere but with Greece, but Eco-PC made this crisis far worse than needed and everything centers on one word: AUSTERITY.
None of the players could bring themselves to tell the truth: The Greek Government went broke.
Even a miraculous return to pre-Great Recession levels of prosperity combined with full and honest tax payments by the Greek people can save the day as existing statutory entitlement programs exceed 100% of even those unrealistic cash flows (and let that be a lesson to us all).
And that leaves nothing to pay government employees or the military or for any government services or to pay back the monies they borrowed to keep a sinking ship-of-state above water for the last several years. That is right: Even if Greece defaults on 100% of the money owed to folks around the world, it will still go broke.
For perspective, we are talking about a country with a per capita GDP well below Mississippi, the poorest state in America (which also begs the question: So what if the tiny Greek economy leaves?).
To avoid telling those truths the Eco-PC gang came up with AUSTERITY as a substitute for this reality: THE GREEK GOVERNMENT IS DEAD FLAT BROKE.
Thus began the mischief as the word “austerity” is so opaque as to mislead almost everyone and that is exactly what happened.
If you follow the debates, the inescapable conclusion is that the “austerity” measures are optional. Even worse, that means they are not really needed. “Austerity” became a wrong visited upon the people of Greece by evil others (usually spelt G-e-r-m-a-n-s).
Good grief!
As the “responsible” leaders (both inside and out of Greece) were trapped in a PC lie, the inescapable reality that “broke” means “broke” and the government spending cuts must happen and must happen now was lost in translation, Eco-PC translation, that is.
The “responsible” leaders lost their credibility, the lifeblood of elected politicians, and the extremists gained power.
So here we are, Greece ruled by stale Marxists stuck in the 1970s without a clue as to how to proceed, European leaders stuck with a fiscal collapse of the Greek Government that they lack to courage to accurately describe and the Greek people still wondering why in hell anyone would “choose” to enact an austerity plan, as if they ever had a choice.
Eco-PC sucks.
When you are broke, tell the truth, pick yourself up and get back in the race. That's life! (And thank you Frank Sinatra)
Mike
