Greek austerity program protest

Let me say this about that.

Since my retirement, Mrs. Shambo and I have made a habit of spending at least one month/yr. outside the United States.  It’s fun, it’s exciting and it’s educational.  Just like the man who can’t “see the forest for the trees”, you really need to get out of America once in a while to gain a true perspective as to what our country has become.  After spending a month or so in Europe, I believe I have seen the country that fits perfectly as the model for the America of the future – GREECE.

For years, I believed France was the ultimate model for the future of American society.  France has shown expertise in all the things America currently holds dear:  sparse work ethic – gridlocked government – political correctness – whining – con artists – a barren sense of common courtesy – tattoos – and a grinding attitude of superiority that only a high school cheerleader could match. 

Nothing really works very well in France – by design.  Take for example the TGV (bullet train).   The damn thing is a technological marvel capable of…    carrying 400 passengers at 186 mph while serving them a champagne brunch.  Yet the French continue to bugger-up the system by random labor union strikes for no apparent reason.  In France, technology is no match for a lazy and disorganized labor force stewing in abject socialism.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I find many things to like about France: the food – the Alps – the ancient architecture – the museums – the girls – the wine – the countryside.  However, Uruguay is a more organized and civilized country.

Until my latest trip to Europe, I was convinced that France was the model for America’s ultimate destiny.  Then two things happened.

On the flight over to Europe, I read an article that reported the majority of all the members of U.S. labor unions actually worked for the government.  Of the 15.3 million labor union members in the U.S., nearly 8,000,000 work for the government.  This is just too stupid for words.  In theory, this pits America’s labor unions against it’s own citizens.  Labor unions (not exactly the paragons of efficiency to begin with) are now in control of 8 million government workers (poor models for effective employees on a good day). 

Labor unions and government workers.  What do you suspect we can expect from this pairing?

The second thing that occurred was the uproar in the European press when we arrived regarding the economic state of Greece.  It seems that the government of Greece has been spending money it doesn’t have (sound familiar yet) and has been running such a budget deficit that the country may go bankrupt.  If that were the total problem, no one would really care.  After all, it’s just Greece.  They screwed up, let’em suffer.

But, the underlying issue is that Greece is now part of the European Union and a participant in the “Euro” currency system.  As such, the other 26 members of the European Union are obligated to bail Greece out of their self-inflicted economic woes, making it possible for Greece to undermine the entire European economy. 

As you might imagine, a German autoworker or a French winemaker or a Spanish dock worker would be pretty pissed-off if their taxes are raised to pay off Greek debt, simply because the Greek government cannot manage it’s own affairs.  But, as it turns out, the Greek government has implemented austerity spending measures to remedy the budget problems and submitted a plan to the European Union that would solve the whole mess.

Demonstrating that they have the intelligence of an eggplant, the entire civilian population of Greece responded by going on a nation-wide strike against the austerity measures – effectively shutting down the entire country.  Again, too stupid for words.

Why in hell would an entire nation shoot itself in the foot by going on strike at the very time it needs to become more competitive, more efficient, and more productive?   The answer will shock you.

In Greece, nearly 2/3′s of the workforce is employed by the government, represented by labor unions and guaranteed jobs for life.

In other words, an advanced state of the ultimate destiny of the United States if we continue on our current path.  Sometimes you just have to step out of America to get an accurate picture of where it’s going.

And, that’s all I have to say about that.

Shambo