First, too little attention is directed to the scoundrels who create, enable, and perpetuate these sorts of crises. Today’s European turmoil was sown decades ago by leaders who ate prodigiously at the table of illusory perpetual abundance. They’re dead and gone. For all the talk about the world “our children and our grandchildren” will inherit, there is little evidence that the socialist mindset considers other than the immediate benefit to those calling the tune. In other words, those who craft the rules are also the ones that are eating next year’s seed. When the current American economic time-bomb detonates, as surely it must, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reed and their ilk will be long gone. Because of the aversion to beating dead horses over even the most catastrophic of failures–horses that deserve a sound pummeling–we fail to learn the lessons of history.
Keynes is quoted as saying, “In the long run we’re all dead.” That in a nutshell explains the mindset you describe about destroying the future for today’s political benefit. I see it as an extension – on a massive scale – of the idea of tourism taxes. Cities love tourism taxes on hotels and rental cars because few locals are impacted and those tourists can’t vote in local elections. Children under 18 (and those not yet born) can’t vote, so they have no say in the world we’re leaving for them. Politicians for the past few generations have been borrowing for the future in order to buy votes and amass power today. In the past few years, that level of borrowing has accelerated to unheard of and unsustainable rates. When ordinary people experience a reduction in income, they have two choices: they can reduce their spending or they can borrow to support their lifestyle as they’ve known it. The outcome of the second choice is completely predictable, but that’s the path government has followed for decades.
Anything that can’t go on forever must eventually end. It’s like the children’s game of hot potato where sooner or later, someone gets stuck at the end. Whether it’ll be Pelosi, Obama and Reid or the next set of politicians isn’t clear but ultimately someone is going to be the one left holding the bag when things fall apart.
Will America see riots in the streets when the inevitable government cutbacks begin? I fear so. We have tens of millions of people who’re used to getting more out of society than they contribute. Any time you talk about cutting a dollar of government spending, the person getting that dollar is going to get upset. We’ll be facing cuts at least as massive as those announced yesterday in the UK. A lot of government employees (federal, state, county and local) are going to lose their jobs and that in turn is going to cost a lot more jobs before things settle out in a process that’ll take years.
I have four young grandchildren and fear the world we’re leaving for them. If we don’t turn things around quickly, I predict these generations will curse our names for all time.
