Let's be honest. We never really had much respect for the Greek. It's not that they are bad people, it's just that...well, they're just Greek.
Yes, they have beautiful buildings in Greece and they invented all of those mythological gods back in ancient times, but what have they done for us lately? Sure, they've given us a few gifted Greek actors like John Stamos and Marilu Henner, but for the most part they really haven't contributed much to our great, and far-superior, American Society.
And, if we are really being honest here, it's a little hard to empathize with what is going on in Greece right now, because, let's face it—they've done it to themselves.
If you haven't been paying attention to what's been happening over on the other side of the world, it isn't pretty.
Greece is experiencing a depression that has seen its economy contract for the last five years and is now accelerating downward at an annual rate of 7%, in what will likely end up as an unrecoverable death-spiral.
Since 2009, one out of four businesses has shut down, the suicide rate in the first half of 2011 was up 40 percent and everyone is scared to lend Greece more money because they already have a huge pile of dept with no realistic means of paying it back. Did I mention it isn't pretty over there?
The EU and IMF recently stepped in and said they would throw Greece a bone, but in return, Greece had to commit to implementing some austerity measures, which, to say they have not been well-received by the citizens of Greece would be a gross understatement.
The Austerity measures, which include cutting the minimum wage by 22% for most of the labor force, agreeing to cut an additional 150,000 public sector jobs by 2015 and an undisclosed deal to cut pensions, has created extreme hardships for many ordinary people. Consequently, they have taken to the streets.
The protests, which started in 2010, have gained serious traction since February 12th, and have really begun to get ugly. The city of Athens is beginning to look like a war zone, with citizens setting buildings on fire and police trying to calm the crowds down with tear gas and smoke bombs.
So what did Greece do to bring this upon themselves? Well, if you can believe it, they actually went a long time, spending more money then they actually had. I know—crazy, right? First, the citizens started spending more money than they were taking in--charging lots of things of credit cards, buying expensive homes they really couldn't afford, and so forth. Then, when the economy started getting bad, the government ramped up all sorts of entitlement programs to help the people out. The only problem was, the more the government taxed their people to pay for those programs, the worse the economy got (because people no longer had money to buy anything) and the problem snowballed out of control until you have what you see today. Huge national debt, a horrible economy and entitlement programs that people have been forced to rely on, but now, are being taken away.
For you history buffs, you'll quickly recognize that Greece has followed the same path of destruction as every other great empire that has collapsed; racking up huge debt until the country eventually implodes.
And yes, America is on the very same collision course, only on a much greater scale. But surely, we are far more sophisticated than the Greeks and the Romans and the Brits. Come on! This is America! The greatest nation in the world!
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