In a recent post, I explained some of the reasons why Greece should not get another bailout. I cover some of the same points in this Bloomberg interview, but my favorite part is when I state that it’s time for the Greek people to realize “they can’t loot and mooch their way through life.”
I also pontificate about the appointment of another pro-welfare state French politician to head the IMF. Not surprisingly, I’m not sanguine about the prospects.
International Liberty 
[…] Sadly, politicians routinely encourage moral hazard by providing bailouts and other subsidies to their cronies, campaign contributors, and political supporters (including not just Wall Street, but also auto companies, cities, health insurance companies, imprudent homeowners, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, and entire nations). […]
[…] Sadly, politicians routinely encourage moral hazard by providing bailouts and other subsidies to their cronies, campaign contributors, and political supporters (including not just Wall Street, but also auto companies, cities, health insurance companies, imprudent homeowners, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, and entire nations). […]
[…] problem, of course, is that Greek voters don’t show any interest in now voting for politicians who will clean up the mess. Simply stated, too many people in the […]
[…] problem, of course, is that Greek voters don’t show any interest in now voting for politicians who will clean up the mess. Simply stated, too many people in the […]
[…] that Greece has passed a tipping point because the moral foundation of Greek society has been corroded by dependency. And it’s very difficult to put that toothpaste back in the […]
[…] that Greece has passed a tipping point because the moral foundation of Greek society has been corroded by dependency. And it’s very difficult to put that toothpaste back in the […]
[…] problem, of course, is that Greek voters don’t show any interest in now voting for politicians who will clean up the mess. Simply stated, too many people in the […]
[…] problem, of course, is that Greek voters don’t show any interest in now voting for politicians who will clean up the mess. Simply stated, too many people in the […]
[…] Why? Because people like Mr. Korfoksyliotis eventually decide that it’s no fun being enslaved by a bunch of looters and moochers. […]
[…] I suspect most Greeks probably think how they can get on that gravy train. Which explains why, in an interview, I said the Greeks shouldn’t be allowed to “loot and mooch their way through […]
[…] overnight. With luck, that may be such a sobering experience that the Greek people might learn that a society based on mooching and looting doesn’t […]
[…] overnight. With luck, that may be such a sobering experience that the Greek people might learn that a society based on mooching and looting doesn’t […]
[…] even referred (again) to “looters” and “moochers,” which are terms used in Rand’s […]
[…] also disparaged the people of Greece by stating on TV that they’ve been trying to loot and mooch their way through […]
[…] in Greece. Simply stated, public policy for too long has punished workers and producers while rewarding looters and moochers. The result is economic collapse, bailouts, and the destruction of cultural […]
[…] means, sooner or later, a Greek-style collapse because a shrinking population of producers can’t keep pace with an ever-expanding population of […]
[…] means, sooner or later, a Greek-style collapse because a shrinking population of producers can’t keep pace with an ever-expanding population […]
[…] in nations such as Germany and Finland, and those folks don’t want to write blank checks to a bunch of moochers and looters, Greece faces a difficult […]
[…] in Greece is the erosion of social capital, as personified by Olga the Moocher. At some point, as I bluntly warned in an interview, the Greeks need to learn there’s no Santa […]
[…] there are lots of moochers in Greece. And yes, the government is insanely wasteful, even to the point of subsidizing pedophiles and […]
[…] The looters and moochers that comprise the Greek electorate are in a pissy mood and may opt for various protest parties. […]
[…] maybe I could have used it during the Greek riots, since it captures the entitlement mentality of that nation’s looters and […]
[…] a perverse way, I’m glad that there are places such as Greece and Illinois. These profligate jurisdictions are useful examples of the dangers of bloated […]
[…] a perverse way, I’m glad that there are places such as Greece and Illinois. These profligate jurisdictions are useful examples of the dangers of bloated […]
[…] a perverse way, I’m glad that there are places such as Greece and Illinois. These profligate jurisdictions are useful examples of the dangers of bloated […]
[…] a perverse way, I’m glad that there are places such as Greece and Illinois. Profligate jurisdictions such as these are useful examples of the dangers of bloated […]
The visible mayhem that we see on the news eventually subsides. The real violence is in nations being turned into welfare states by debt. Fiat currencies are heavy shackles on the arms and legs of populations. Planting debt reaps poverty. The central banks wouldn’t have it, any other way.
The only people that seem to be in favor of another bailout for Greece, are the Grecian citizens themselves and those who stake the claim that Socialism is the coming future of the world. Various analysts can be found to advance the idea that by simply changing the ways of accounting for long-term debt and by injecting cash into the system for short-term cash flow relief, the Greek system will not only survive, but continue as a role model for the rest of the Socialist apparatchiks to peddle. One can program endless hours of television, fell an entire forest to produce the paper for the printing of handbills and link all of the world accounting methods to extoll this system, but the simple fact remains that Greece has more funds being paid out, than they have coming in. In order to fund this system, Socialistic economies will continue to need the injection of funds from like-minded countries and from the international banking system.
The world has become too fiscally interlinked, with the result that the problems of a country half-way around the globe can have serious repercussions to otherwise dissimilar economies. Is Socialism the best kind of global economy for all the countries of the world? In order for Socialism to function, all countries of the world must be a part of the collective economy and share in each others gains and cover each others losses. A country would have to give up their status as a sovereign nation in order to buy into this utopian system. The governments of the world would necessarily need to be the employers of the citizens, from top to bottom, where economic decisions are made for political, not business, reasons. Of course, all economists know every aspect of this detail, but few discuss it openly. All Socialists know that the world economy cannot exist with dueling Capitalist and Socialist systems. The Greek socialist system has clearly failed and should be allow to disintegrate onto the scrape heap of bad ideas. Instead, capitalistic nations will continue to bail out countries like Greece, while a far greater economic plan seems to be evolving throughout the world. Greece is not the problem, but merely a symptom of the socialistic cancer that is spreading throughout the body of this globe.