(1) "The strike, the second this month, was one of the biggest since Greece first appealed for foreign support two years ago, with even shops, bakeries and gas stations closing. Most international travel was suspended, with all flights canceled, the national rail service halted and ferries moored in port. Public transportation was running on a limited service to enable workers to attend protest rallies. Tax offices, courts and schools shut down, hospitals were operating with only emergency staff and customs officials walked off the job. The action, which follows a wave of smaller protests, including a walkout by garbage collectors that have left the streets of the capital swamped in trash, was called by the country’s two main labor unions. The unions, which represent about 2.5 million workers, are leading resistance to the new package of cutbacks which include additional cuts in wages and pensions, thousands of public-sector layoffs and changes to collective-bargaining rules.
(2) Later it continues, "Civil servants, who have been the most vociferous in their protests, continued sit-ins at ministries and state agencies, obliging government officials to meet in other venues including the Parliament building. Parliament, where lawmakers are to vote on the new measures on Thursday, is expected to be the focus of angry demonstrations. It was the scene of violent clashes between protesters and police in June when the last set of austerity measures was voted into law."
See also Greek Protests Turn Violent which describes the protests this way:
"As a solution to Greece's crisis, he (a 30-year-old laid off protester) said the country should freeze payments to creditors on its loans. "The size of today's protests will make an impact. I think early elections are likely."
The march marks the first day of a 48-hour strike called by private-sector umbrella union GSEE and its public-sector counterpart ADEDY in opposition to the cutbacks. It follows weeks of almost daily strikes, demonstrations and sit-ins, as well as a two-week-long protest by municipal workers that has left uncollected garbage festering on the streets of Athens and other cities.
"We have reached the limits of our endurance and, what is worse, is that there is no ray of hope," said Stathis Anestis, spokesman for GSEE. "We want to send a message that these austerity policies have been a catastrophe for Greece."
Across the country, public services were frozen Wednesday with central and local government offices closed, schools and courts shut, and hospitals operating at minimum staff levels. Transport services were disrupted and ferry operations suspended by a dockworkers' strike.
Under pressure from its international creditors, Greece's government this month submitted legislation that would further cut public-sector jobs and wages, slash pensions for high-income earners, curtail collective-bargaining rights for workers and enact new levies on taxpayers, among other things."
Unions and public-sector employees are leading the charge against the Greek government's proposed austerity measures. But the government has no choice.Greece has lived beyond its means for far too long and effectively must go broke or radically change its ways. Probably both.
It doesn't appear that the Greeks are prepared to change their ways and live within their means. Accordingly, the Greek situation is bleak indeed, protests aside.
Here's how what's happening in Greece serves as a reminder to us of what can happen to those countries, including the U.S., who ignore financial reality. The Greek government sector has grown to the point where the private sector can no longer support it.
The size of Greek's government has reached the point where progressive policies have achieved the status of what amounts to current conservatism. People are resistant to change and want to maintain the status quo, but preserving the status quo isn't a viable option. So they protest "austerity" measures, even though they can't afford to continue on their current path to nowhere. They're too far gone to keep things as they are, even though people aren't prepared to change and live within their means.
Being between a rock and a hard place, the Greek people are taking to the streets to protest what they believe to be unduly harsh austerity measures being proposed by government officials, including pending "additional cuts in wages and pensions, thousands of public-sector layoffs and changes to collective bargaining rules." Sound familiar?
So what we have developing in the U.S. is a brand new never before seen political environment. It presently consists of don't rock-the-boat politicians coupled with a broader society that is resistant to radical change. That can't continue much longer lest we become Greece.
While we the people can continue to call ourselves progressives or Democrats, conservatives or Republicans, we're much more alike than we are different, no matter what we label ourselves politically. Let me explain this unfortunate and unstable state of affairs.
A few examples will suffice:
How many among us are in favor of cutting entitlements like Medicare, Social Security and Nursing Home benefits? Not many.
Who's in favor of raising taxes on the middle class, however middle class is defined? Not many.
Cutting public education spending by ~50%? Not many.
Eliminating student loans except to the few who have demonstrated their worthiness? Ditto.
Eliminating tax deductibility for charitable contributions, home mortgage interest and property taxes? Not many.
And so forth.
We the people don't want all our government goodies taken away, because we're used to them. Still, we don't want to pay for them either--at least not the full cost thereof.
But if something can't go on forever, it won't. This standoff between government spending and taxation can't continue much longer, so it won't.
That's how we're like Greece, but we still have time to act before the situation gets out of hand. Let's do just that.
My point is simply that the choice about our American future will not be between Republicans and Democrats. Instead it will pit the stasists (who urge control and favor the status quo) against the dynamists (who embrace the principles of choice and competition).
It's time to recognize that many of those among us who call ourselves progressives are in fact conservatives, or defenders of the status quo. And many who claim to be dynamists are in fact stasists or conservatives as well.
Why is that? Well, our world has changed since the Great Depression. Government is bigger--much bigger. And that's our status quo. That's where we start now, unlike the days of old.
It's will be a brand new world politically and culturally as well. Accordingly, a whole new experience lies ahead.
Libertarians believe in strict limits on government activity and that individual liberty and political freedom represent the basic moral principles of a just society. Count me in.
Hopefully, libertarian thinking will soon take the lead and dynamism will prevail over stasism. Should that occur, traditional politicians will lose out.
Summing Up
The 1999 book "The Future And Its Enemies" by libertarian Virginia Postrel is thought provoking in its discussion of dynamists and stasists. If you are considering withdrawing from the traditional Depublican and Remocrat ways of viewing America's future society, reviewing this book may help.
In any case, we've spent the past eighty years getting to the point where the progressive movement has become the defender of the status quo. Progressivism no longer represents change, and Remocrats and Depublicans together occupy the conservative political position.
Only incremental as opposed to fundamental change is usually proposed by either side. After all, politicians seek elected office every few years, remember? Our traditional politics is very much a popularity contest. Genuine leadership doesn't count.
The problem, however, as the Greeks are learning, is that we can't defend and maintain forever a status quo that we can't afford. Living within our means isn't austere. It's mandatory.
So will it be more government, more public-sector employees and higher taxes, or will we instead opt for smaller government, reduced entitlements and lower taxes?
Let's decide before we start to look like the Greeks and the rest of Europe.
Thanks. Bob.
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