…but politicians don’t believe that.
“The crisis was partly caused by politicians hugely increasing the size of the public sector after the country joined the euro. In 12 years, the wage bill of the Greek state sector doubled — and this excludes ‘fakelaki’, the notorious cash-filled envelopes needed when dealing with officials. It was decreed that those in ‘arduous’ jobs could start receiving pensions from the age of 50 — and hairdressers and waiters were among 600 jobs classified as arduous”
How the hell are waiters and hairdressers even on the public payroll?? Government is SO corrupt. Or is it just stupid? Everywhere. And not just “everywhere but here.”
The “Hope and Change” elected in 2008 is not as far off of this as you might think.
What do you think would happen if welfare or government funded (aka taxpayer funded) pensions was cut here? Do you really think the reaction would be any different? There are multi-generational families that depend on welfare payments and other government assistance. And that doesn’t even count the ever-growing (federal and states) government payroll who all depend on their paychecks and their forever long healthcare and pensions being paid by the taxpayer. But at some point, even the people who are horrible at math, have to realize that you can’t keep spending and spending to inflate your “recovery numbers”, and taxing and taxing those few who can afford it, to keep everyone afloat. It’s actually pretty far frackin’ away from fair. Polar opposite of fair.
If you think about it, it’s actually rather ridiculous that social security and medicare are the first things bandied about to cut. These are at least things you or your employer paid into. Foolishly but that’s another conversation. But welfare? Government housing? Free cell phones for “the poor”? Annual raises for government employees? A long laundry list of money the government hands out and cannot possibly monitor properly. Not cut. Of course I also won’t start on the stupid list of pet projects that tax payer money goes to via political maneuvering. Again, another conversation.
I hope America wakes up. We are a fantastic country. The best. Filled with smart people that want to succeed. But sadly also filled with people that feel they are owed something. And politicians that just want to be re-elected. Sickening.
