Wednesday 5 May 2010

The problem with democracy

The problem with democracy, is that most people's vote is for sale as long as they will get some of the free bread at the circus you propose to put on today at tomorrow's expense. Political parties are forced into a race to buy your vote, with more and more outrageously unrealistic and unaffordable promises.

In Greece today, three people have died because mobs of angry protestors stepped far over the line separating peaceful protest from barbarity. They are angry that the supply of free bread, which they have by now come to accept as a right, has run out and the bill for many years worth of bread has been presented for imminent payment. So they are throwing around the toys in their pram and have brought the entire country to a standstill. It would appear some of those toys might have been Molotov cocktails... what wonderful, rational beings they are.

This is what redistributive economic policies bring about, eventually. Nothing is free, everything must be paid for at some point in time -- and the longer you put off paying for it, the more painfully expensive it will be. Think about that carefully tomorrow, when you're in the voting booths across the UK.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8661385.stm

3 comments:

Amanda said...

I see you have not discussed the causation of this crisis. I am not surprised at the reaction on the streets with the corruption in governments of centre-right and centre-left parties since 2001. This also in cahoots with financial institutions to under-estimate government spending and debt.The Greek people have been served badly by all its governments and as always they pay for the mistakes of economists and politicians.

DP said...

OK, I will spell it out. The causation of the crisis in Greece (and many other countries, certainly not least the UK) is debt. Debt that was accumulated as a result of excessive social program spending that was unaffordable from current tax income. The unaffordable promises were the bread given out the to the voting public as they watched the political theatre that was the circus. We have learned nothing since the time of the Romans.

Amanda said...

I see you have not discussed the causation of this crisis. I am not surprised at the reaction on the streets with the corruption in governments of centre-right and centre-left parties since 2001. This also in cahoots with financial institutions to under-estimate government spending and debt.The Greek people have been served badly by all its governments and as always they pay for the mistakes of economists and politicians.

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