I hope governments are taking note of what happened in London.
This is no longer about a shooting by the police. These riots are more akin to the riots we saw in Greece. These riots are about cuts in benefits from the government. And the young, largely unemployed and living solely off the government dole, are responsible.
European governments have gone the down the Socialist path for years, promising more and more government assistance to anyone within their borders. And they taxed heavily for it, no question. There's also no question that Europeans enjoyed some great benefits that Americans could only salivate over.
But the tough thing about Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money to spend. These governments could afford to be generous when times were good (and generous they were), even to point that they too, like the U.S., floated billions in bonds to cover the shortfall of even their heavy taxes.
But then the markets crashed, money dried up, business closed and commerce took a beating. Suddenly the cash stopped flowing. And Europeans governments have, to put it mildly, completely freaked.
And here's another tough lesson for governments: do NOT ever give the people a benefit that you do not intend to fund forever. Take away a benefit, or even curtail it, and they will riot in and burn your cities. Athens and London are only the first. Heck, look at the U.S. with our pitiful little social security checks they send out every month to the elderly. If they so much as suggest a cut in payments, old people in droves head out with pitchforks and torches to the voting booth. Thank goodness they find rioting too exhausting.
These European governments have dug a terrible hole for themselves (yeah, and like the U.S. hasn't??). They have benefits they can't fund and they are terrified of cutting them. But cut them they must; they have no choice. I'm no doomsayer, I'm a pragmatist (at least in my own eyes
) and I am not going to be the least surprised in you find any number of European governments falling over the next year. Those that replace them will do no better, the cuts will still have to be made.
Europeans, I fear, will become more responsible for their own self-sufficiency at much greater level than they have ever known, and I doubt many, especially the younger ones who have known nothing but cradle-to-grave support, will find that transition manageable.
Wow, there was quite a brain dump.
Happy days to all.
