As is our want, every now and then something happens that inspires us to say something in this blog on a topic of importance, that may not necessarily involve eminent domain, or land-use, or for that matter any field of law. So here goes.
We have been reading the dispatches from Europe with increased bafflement. It seems that the Greeks have gone bananas and have spent every drachma they have, and then some, so predictably they are flat broke. So now they face the inevitable prospect of bankruptcy, but they demand that their European neighbors bail them out. Our question is two-fold: (a) why is everybody surprised? and (b) why don’t the other Europeans tell the Greeks the Aesop tale about the ant and the grasshopper? Looks like the Germans are inclined to do so, but so far their government leaders have not been inclined to heed the voice of the Volk, and are beginning to pay the price of their foolishness at the polls.
But wait, it’s not just Greece. The same is true of the other PIIGs, and truth to tell, of the United States, except that we appear to have a stronger economy and therefore more potential customers for our bonds, as well as more time to fiddle with our finances than the Greeks who, it now turns out, have been cooking their books to conceal the extent of their exploding debt.
There is a lesson for us in all that, and we would like to believe that at least some among our leaders are taking it all to heart and will do something to mend the ways of our government before we wind up like Greece. Do you suppose?
Follow up: For some excellent commentary on the Greek crisis and its impact, as well as a realistic assessment of what ails Europe, See George Will, European Union: A Coalition of Irresponsibility, Washington Post, May 16, 2010. Go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/14/AR2010051404279.html?wpisrc=nl_pmopinions