Without A Balanced Budget, USA Becomes Greece Very Soon

To the Greek Socialist, 
"Why even have a government, if there's no redistribution of wealth?"
But Margaret Thatcher's prophetic words were never more true than today;
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

  The European union seems content to let Greece suffer a while longer in their socialist utopia. The nation is flooded out by debt and has been asking for global bailouts for nearly 7 years.
  What seems like a reasonable terms of western charity to us, is flatly rejected by the Greek people - overwhelmingly.

On 25 May 2011, anti-austerity activists organised by the Direct Democracy Now! movement, known as the Indignant Citizens Movement

  Western Europe simply says; "Show us a balanced budget plan, so we can trust that you will move to solvency and pay back the loans we're guaranteeing.".

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   To the Greeks, a balanced budget would mean the free stuff would end. They love the free stuff.  They would perhaps give up the government-paid vacations, paid maternity leave... for dads., 4-day work weeks, free healthcare, free schooling, national union contracts, etc..
  The Greeks wanted to keep up with the French and the Italians. But they became the Serbians, instead.  Here's a simplified list of terms the EU has presented to Greece, in exchange for cosigning the loans to float their national government:

TAXATION

• Taxes will increase by 2.32bn euros in 2011, with additional taxes of 3.38bn euros in 2012, 152m euros in 2013 and 699m euros in 2014.
• A solidarity levy of between 1% and 5% of income will be levied on households. It rose twice in 2012.
• The tax-free threshold for income tax was lowered from 12,000 euros to 5000 euros, rather than the original plan of 8,000 euros.
• Higher property taxes.
• VAT rates rose: the 19% rate increased to 23%, 11% became 13%, and 5.5% increased to 6.5%.
• The VAT rate for cafe's & bars rose to 23% from 13%.
• Luxury levies on yachts, pools & cars.
• Some tax exemptions scrapped.
• Excise taxes on fuel, cigs & alcohol up by 1/3.
• Special levies on profitable firms, high-value properties and people with high incomes.

SPENDING CUTS

• Defence spending cut by 200m euros in 2012, and by 333m euros each year from 2013 to 2015.
• Health spending cut by 310m euros in 2011 and a further 1.81bn euros in 2012-2015, mainly by lowering regulated prices for drugs.
• Public investment cut by 850m euros in 22011.
• Subsidies for local government were reduced.
• Education spending cut by closing or merging 1,976 schools.

LABOUR MARKET REFORM

• The law makes it easier for companies to cut their payroll costs. It does this by suspending industry-wide wage bargaining.

PUBLIC SECTOR CUTS

• The public sector wage bill  cut steadily to shrink it by more than 2bn euros by 2015.
• Nominal public sector wages  by 20%.
• Wages of employees of state-owned enterprises cut by 30% & a cap on wages and bonuses.
• The number of civil servants suspended on partial pay will rise to 30,000 in 2011, from 20,000 planned initially. They  received 60% of pay for one year, having been promised a job for life.
• All temporary contracts for public sector workers are terminated.
• Only one in 10 civil servants retiring in 2011 were replaced and only one in 5 in proceeding  years.

CUTTING BENEFITS

• Social security cut by 1.09bn euros in 2011, 1.28bn euros in 2012, 1.03bn euros in 2013, 1.01bn euros in 2014 and 700m euros in 2015.
• More means-testing and some benefits were cut.
• Monthly pensions above 1,000 euros cut by 20%
• Existing retirees aged under 55 to lose 40% of any pensions over 1,000 euros.
• The government hopes to collect more social security contributions by cracking down on evasion and undeclared work.
• The statutory retirement age raised to 65, 40 years of work will be needed for a full pension and benefits will be linked more closely to lifetime contributions.

PRIVATISATION
​The government aims to raise 50bn euros from privatisations by 2015, including:

• Selling stakes this year in the betting monopoly OPAP, the lender Hellenic Postbank, port operators Piraeus Port and Thessaloniki Port as well as Thessaloniki Water.
• It has agreed to sell 10% of Hellenic Telecom to Deutsche Telekom for about 400m euros.
• Next year, the government plans to sell stakes in Athens Water, refiner Hellenic Petroleum, electricity utility PPC, lender ATEbank as well as ports, airports, motorway concessions, state land and mining rights.
• It plans further sales to raise 7bn euros in 2013, 13bn euros in 2014 and 15bn euros in 2015.

  Greek whining and suffering will continue for at least another decade. Even if their tourism and industry explodes with great growth, they will still be anchored down with debt repayment for a long time. Only true free market private industry can they see real growth. But what industry  wants to set up a manufacturing  investment in a nation with twice the tax rates as the neighboring countries?
  Wouldn't true default and bankruptcy be better in the long run? It would be a living hell for a few years, but followed by real opportunity and unshackled growth. The Greek bailout may not be the kindest gift to Greece. It may really be a gift to the international financiers who would be stuck with uncollectable loans. And that takes us back to the ongoing globalist conspiracy theories of the Rockefellers, Bilderbergers, and the like.

A Warning To The USA

  To America's political Right, there is strong consensus for a balanced budget. But there is a strong pocket of resistance in the right about calling for a Convention of States so as to draft the amendment. This pocket says; "Too risky! Why, they may also draft another document we don't like, and we'd have to fight against it!",
  Whatever proposal comes out of a COS, it would need 75% of the 50 states voting to adopt it. and that's no small feat. The populist West Coast, Great Lakes, and New England states will not like the idea of living within our means.
  So we keep sliding down the slope toward Greek tragedy....