UK voters take note of the Greek crisis

History is being made today in both the United Kingdom and in Greece. In the UK the British people are preparing to vote in what is being characterized as the closest race in decades. Indeed it has been an interesting race to watch, but it is not the rise of the Liberal Democrats or the prospect of a hung Parliament that makes this race important. It is the burden and responsibility that the next government is going to have to take on.

British finances are in shambles and the debt is going to act like an anvil on their economy. No political party, with the exception of the UKIP, have a real plan to deal with the deficit. Each party claims that they will cut but at the same time provides long lists of things that they will not cut. There appears to be realization that something has to be done but no political will to do anything.

The reason this is important can be observed in what is perhaps the more important event: the Greek Parliament is going to vote on the ‘austerity measures’ aimed at rescuing Greek finances.
In one way the proposed cuts are drastic in another way they are extremely modest. The plan is to cut the deficit down to 3% of the economy from 13.6%. Note that they do not have a plan to have a surplus; they merely hope to have a smaller deficit in four years. The Greek government, even with the proposed bailout, is unwilling or unable to take on the real core problems of their fiscal finances.

I can actually understand their perspective. The austerity measures have not even been voted on yet and there have already been riots with fatalities. You would hope that those deaths would cool the hot heads, but unions and the Communist Party are still planning on bringing the country to a standstill with protests and strikes.

It is hard to escape the feeling that Greece is descending into chaos. The government is trying to scratch out the bare minimum that it would need to do to save Greece from complete collapse. But the large unions and other interest groups refuse to do their part. It seems that they would rather watch Greece burn than retire at 63.

So I hope that the voters and politicians of the UK have taken note of what is happening in Greece. And I hope that they remember it when they make their decisions today, and their decisions in the future.