The most recent Greek tragedy is the one in which the Greek economy is failing. I read an article today in which someone in Greece was quoted as saying:
We demand a fair distribution of the burden so that wage-earners and pensioners do not pay the price for a crisis they did not create.
All of the sudden a landslide of thoughts nearly collapsed my ability to reason. How much ignorance and stupidity can one roll into one sentence? The total ignorance of that single quote demonstrates that the person stating it can display their entire intellectual catalog on a bumper sticker. This single statement also demonstrates the unfathomable ignorance, laziness and lack of personal responsibility that permeates Europe and the USA today. Unless you live in totalitarian society, YOU are responsible for your own government – period! He said:
We demand a fair distribution of the burden…
Are you kidding? Do you really expect the freakin’ government to “distribute burden.” I had no idea that this was the roll of government. This is the same kind of idiotic rhetoric from morons who would state that the government should redistribute wealth. The government shouldn’t distribute or re-distribute anything because Governments have NOTHING except what they take from the public. Governments shouldn’t produce anything. They shouldn’t have factories nor stores. How could individuals compete with government for business? Any time that an individual started to do well, the government can tax or sue him into oblivion and tax all citizens to subsidize a lower cost. Eventually there would be no private business and we would all live under government control, with the government handing out only what they see fit. That is called communism. Unless you desire communism, you should never suggest that the government “distribute” anything.
Now let’s look at the other half of his intellectual nugget:
…so that wage-earners and pensioners do not pay the price for a crisis they did not create.
Nobody to blame here...please move along
Are you serious? “Wage-earners” can vote and “pensioners” have been voting even longer. We are all guilty of this economic mess we are in. “Society” must take all credit and blame for “society.” After all, isn’t “society” the totality of the average people in any given region? More importantly, each and everyone of us gets to choose how much we spend and how much we save. I have spent most of my life watching Europeans and Americans sit around at sidewalk cafes sipping espresso and debating politics with complete and utter ignorance of economics. How much does an espresso cost? How much do coffee beans cost? How successful and popular have coffee shops been throughout Europe and the US for the last 20+years? Think about it! We sip away on a $5-$7 cup of coffee that costs 10 cents to make. I used to work with a 20 year-old who would leave the office about 5-6 times a day to go get a $7 Starbucks Coffee. So there went about $40 per day, or $880 per month or $10,560 per year. If you are one of these people, please put down your espresso because class is now in session.
Lesson #1: Produce more than you consume
Here in the US, we have the Obama Administration and all big-government supporters in both parties telling us that borrowing from the Chinese to build and rebuild our own internal infrastructure is going to revive our economy. This make as much sense as thinking that if my family sits in our home buying and selling things to and from each other, we will somehow become wealthy. No, it doesn’t work like that. We have to leave our home and produce something to earn something to bring home. If we only sat in our homes buying a selling to each other, the cupboards will run empty and eventually the taxman and the mortgage company will show up at our door. It’s very simple: produce more than you consume. All you have to do is balance a checkbook to learn that you must produce more than you consume. How many bridges are we going to sell to China? How many roads and tunnels are we going to sell to India? None. How is building tennis courts in a park and a turtle-tunnel under a highway are going to revive our economy? It’s not; all that does is put a little money in a few peoples’ pockets to prolong the inevitable collapse. The best thing the governments can do is get out of the way of business
China, India and Southeast Asia are explosive economies while Europe and the USA are failing. You see, people in China, India and Southeast Asia only want an opportunity, while Europe and the US want handouts. We sit around and whine about sweat shops, while they hope, pray and work to get factories to work in. We have deindustrialized our nations and shipped our manufacturing jobs overseas. Why? UNIONS! Unions always talk about a “living wage, living wage,living wage.” What they are referring to is paying $147,000 per year to an uneducated grunt for twisting bolts! Let me see…go to college and study business only to earn $26k my first year, hope to reach $45k within 5-10 years and maybe achieve $100k plus in 15-20 years. All the while changing employers and relying on my own ability to remain employed…or skip college and drive a bus for the same amount of money. Hmmm, let me think about this one.
Lesson #2: Don’t punish achievement nor reward failure
Doesn’t anyone remember Pavlov’s dog? Ivan Pavlov’s research on conditional reflexes is common knowledge in science and pop-culture. Pavlov’s dog proved that if you reward an activity you will get more of it. If you punish an activity and you will get less of it. Reward the uneducated and unemployed and you will get more of them. Punish success and achievement and you will get less of it.
Why do our local, state and federal governments require that people become destitute before providing assistance? It’s really quite simple; because it is in their best interest to make you dependent.
The phrase “Pavlov’s dog” is also used to describe someone who merely reacts to a situation rather than using critical thinking.
You can’t tax yourself into prosperity. You need the majority of your population to produce more than they consume. Heck, even idiot drug dealers will tell you that. Drug dealer who use their own products don’t survive because they always use more than they sell.
Pitting haves against have-nots is tired and old…more importantly is it LAZY! If you want something EARN IT!
