The world has watched in dismay as Greece has edged ever closer to default on its debts in recent months.
Greece has literally spent its way to the brink of collapse. Over long years, its lawmakers have been unwilling to deny one increase after another in welfare state spending. But they went further: Rather than at least acknowledge the unsustainable cost of all that spending, they used dubious accounting to hide the cost.
Now, the costs can no longer be hidden. Greece’s creditors are at the door. Other European nations have already massively bailed out Greece, but to little avail. Protests have turned violent. There is even talk among a few Greeks that the way out of their country’s financial mess is to demand reparations from Germany for the Nazi occupation of Greece during World War II!
Many fear Greece will soon go into default, with frightening implications not only for the Greeks but for all Europe and, by extension, for the United States. That has ordinary Greeks angry and frustrated, but many still do not see the connection between their nation’s reckless spending and the current crisis.
“It is the shock of undercut expectations, the loss of benefits and prospects once taken for granted …,” The Associated Press noted in a recent analysis. “The future is a void.”