Wake up and smell the impending disaster!

Okay once again the nation of Greece is in the news as talks go on over more bailout money from the other nations of the EU and the IMF. Usually I cite some article or post here but there are really too many to cite this week/last week. The basis of all the fuss is Greece's less than adequate attempts to trim the fat from their budgets and the peoples' uproar over the government teat drying up.

If that sounds a little harsh, I apologize but it is accurate. For decades, a large number of the European nations have created this fantastical, Never Never Land existence with low taxes, early retirement ages and impossible pensions for their people. During these same decades, most of the nations completely ignored the fact that these fantasies were completely unsustainable over the long run. Much more money was going out than coming in, but that didn't matter because everyone was happy.

Recently, the magic well finally ran out. Greece and several other nations admitted to the world that they were more than broke, more than busted and if they didn't have immediate help, they would go bankrupt. The EU and the IMF agreed to loan them money to keep them afloat in return for cutting the fantasy money well off and beginning to work to fix their problems. Sounds great, right? Simple, right?

Enter, the public. The public who has for decades demanded more and more from the government without ever wondering where the money was coming from. They are in an uproar (Even been occasional riots) because their magic money machine doesn't work any more. Of course, they claim and there is some truth to the fact that government corruption accounts for a large amount of money lost every year instead of pensions and entitlement programs. Still, even if you trim all the corruption funds, there is still not enough money coming into the government to cover all the perks that they want. What it comes down to in these countries is that the people want all their perks, all their goodies and really don't give a damn if the government goes bellyup in the process.

Now, you might ask, what has this to do with the US? Simple, we are all heading down the same path as those countries. Our national debt is in the TRILLIONS of dollars and keeps going up. Instead of actually fixing the problem, we make noises about budget cuts and then try to increase our debt ceiling so we can borrow more money. People on all sides from Reboobicans to Damnocrats to TeaBaggers (Still trying to come up with a name that is more insulting than their actual tag but failing miserably. Any suggestions?) all want the budget fixed and balanced. They want all the systems to be solvent again and they want more for the American people.

That's what everyone wants. What they don't want are higher taxes, higher prices or longer wait periods to reap their just rewards. (As a side note here, I personally feel that the raising of the retirement/SS age is a harsh blow, but also unavoidable at this point) Everyone points out that if the government hadn't so badly bungled things over the past few decades, that none of this would be necessary. They claim, quite accurately, that many of the programs were more than solvent until greedy politicians started dipping into the honey jar. Unfortunately, these facts don't change reality.

The time when our budget/debt issues could be fixed simply are long since gone. Just like the Greeks, Americans suckled at the government teat convinced that the milk would never dry up. Americans ignore the warnings of people who saw these disasters coming because the politicians kept telling them everything was just fine. Now, no matter who's fault it is and no matter how we got to where we are, we are all going to have to suck it up and work towards fixing this disaster before we become the next Greece. We have to all step up before it is too late. Remember the old saying, "If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem."