Greece has Voted! All Is Well.

The solution has been accomplished. All is well. The Europeans, who are very
sophisticated and intelligent, have figured out one more time how to kick the can a little further down the road. The Greeks, who established democracy and columns and other great things, voted and established a "way forward" in the solution of their problems with indebtedness.

Greeks at work in Athens.

     Less than twenty four hours have passed, and the Greeks have notified their backers in the European Union that it will be impossible for Athens to comply with the austerity requirements stipulated by the last (final) agreement.   It pertains to the fact that the tax collector says there will be a 40,000,000,000 euro shortfall in the collections of the required taxes that would allow for running the Greek government and addressing the Greek debt.

     There is also considerable resistance on the part of taxi drivers and hairdressers in Greece to accede to the demand that they not retire on full pension at the age of 50 because they are working in "hazardous occupations".   The newly-elected "conservative" leader of the parliament, and the man who will be prime minister of this fine country is already notifying his brethren in Europe that the Greek people will probably need another two or three hundred billion euros to tide things over.    This for a country of fewer than 12,000,000 people.

     Our stock markets and financial industry waited around and talked about this election just past with great anticipation....with a sense of hope of resolution.    These are the smart people....the Bernackes and the Gietners....the IMF....the World Bank....so all should be well.  But, of course, it was not to be.   Before the first businesses opened in Madrid, there were signs that the the Spanish bond situation was nearing free-fall.   The Spanish are miffed and distressed because it appears the European Community will give the Greeks the money to buy the can that they have to kick, and build them the road to kick the can down.   The Spanish think that will take away from their share of the the dole, and cut down on the size of the can they get to kick.    Only the Lord knows what kind of can the Italians will want, and no one can fathom what the rebuild of the ancient Roman Empire stone road will cost to rebuild.

Spaniards at work in Seville

It would only be right to rebuild those roads so that the Italians could have a road befitting the grandeur of their nation down which to kick the can.  
     Somehow, all this brings the proto-marxist Dickens to mind.  He prided himself by making fun of the rich and the well-placed while beatifying the poor because of the moral superiority of their poverty.   "A Christmas Carol" is as good example as any.   But, were El Gringo Viejo to write the sequel, it would include the Angel of Death taking the American Republic on a tour of these European countries who have practised income redistribution, two-years of maternity leave, free medical care, 24 hour work-weeks, perpetual deficit spending, and the moral decay that is produced by being a perpetual ward of the state.

     The violation of the first....basic....primary....most simple notion that neither a nation nor an individual can long spend more than what comes into the treasury....comes to mind.   Violate that rule....especially for a long, long time and everything must necessarily fall down.   The pyramids around the world, for instance, are not built on a point and then expanded in width as they increase in elevation.    Obviously, the pyramids around the world are set upon a broader base and built to a point of some kind or another.   It has something to do with something called "natural law".

Romans at work in Rome

None of this makes the Italians, the Spaniards, or the Greeks bad people.   Heck, everyone liked Zorba, no?  My son was treated very well in Spain....arrogant Spain...and felt the pride in his veins of being part of those people through his ancestry.   But he could note that there seemed to be an understanding that greatness was, and dullness is.  Fad is fashion.   Aspiration is comatose.   Soon, the can will be much too heavy to kick, the foot much too small, and the road strictly up-hill.    It is rather much like the scene presented by watching a two-year old girl trying to kick an elephant up Pike's Peak. 
      We are being told by Barak that if we would only tax the rich for once, then we could have the Brave New World that is found in the Eurozone.    But, as good as it sounds, the Brave New World almost always results in some kind of downtown Detroit.....or in the scenes of the hopelessly incompetent Katrinazombies in central New Orleans.
     The Eurozombies are now certain that they have found a Little Red Hen who has the obligation to plant the seed, raise the crop, harvest the grain, grind the wheat, sift the flour, make the dough, chop the wood for the iron stove, bake the bread, serve the bread, butter, and jelly and the wash the dishes.    They can just use the Krauts...."and while you are up anyway, bring us some beer....Heineken's!

German at play

     But,   Entschuldigen Sie bitte, Heiniken ist Danen.   We don't care!  We want it and we want it now.  So the Germans and a few other deputy hens in Finland or Sweden, labouring under their own socialist hobbles, are expected to pitch in to support the southern countries and their politicians so that the Mediterraneans can continue to live in the style to which they have become accustomed.
     This money will never be paid back.   It is impossible.   Mexico and Canada have a greater gross national product than Italy, Spain, and Greece combined.   Both countries have taken steps in recent years to reduce deficits and to cut back on the idea of cradle to grave intervention by their central governments.   The productive cannot pay for themselves and for the unproductive for any extended length of time.   This is especially true when the unproductive become a larger and larger percentage of the population.  Consider that among adult men who are Muslim in London, they have from one to four wives on the dole....in 60 percent of the cases.   Dickens will have so many  Tiny Tims to write about in his next re-incarnation.

Just a few grumpy observations.   Thanks for the time and the attention.
El Gringo Viejo