Austerity Indeed.

As of writing this Greece has been “bailed out”.

Whooopy!

NOT!

Just kicking the preverbal can down the preverbal road a little bit more.

However, supposedly, this “bail out” comes complete with a laundry list of austere changes Greece must make. Not sure what the punishment is if Greece fails to implement these austere changes. It isn’t like the bail out money will be taken back nor will the world not step up again to help Greece (and they will need help again, you can bank on that!). So the “bail out” is really not much more than a gift with a prayer attached.

MasterPo isn’t going to delve too much into this so-called bailout. That’s being beaten up on too many other blogs. Nothing to see here. Move along.

But this does lead to our own shores and our own gargantuan national debt ($13 TRILLION as of writing this!).

In true liberal style the answers being proposed are obvious: Raise taxes!

That was so obvious you can boil a 3 minute egg by it.

But what about our “austere” cuts in public services?

The usual suspects will be put on the chopping block:

Police
Fire
Ambulance
Teachers
Road/bridge repair
Military (including boarder patrol and customs)

But how about:

Welfare?
Food stamps?
SSI?
Saving the spotted owl?
Turtle tunnels?

And so on.

These are the kinds expenditures that are bankrupting the country, not police/fire/ambulance/teachers/military.

Are we now to say that police protection, emergency medical support and educating our children are “luxuries”?!

In Heaven’s name: What is the function of a organized society if not to provide protection for its citizens, infrastructure development and repair, and education for the next generation?

Do society’s form just of the purpose of saving whales and seals?
Providing endless payments to those who refuse to do at least some level of work for the society?

To be clear (as our President says), all these are pleasant concepts that we might be able to indulge in if we could afford them. But now more and more we can’t anymore. Just like your own spending, when you have more costs than income something gets cut.

Do you cut your food or your Xbox?
Do you cut your electric usage or your bar tab?
Do you cut your medicines or your lattes?

If any of MasterPo’s readers can point to an example of a successful society in human history organized around these principles please post it.

Until then – buy gold.