The Phoenix
DECEMBER 2011
PAGE 11
Perspectives don’t understand why they should pay for the mistakes of other countries. You see, Germany and France don’t typically spend money they don’t have—and so if they were to give money to Greece to pay Greece’s debts, the people of Germany and France would have to pay for it in the form of higher taxes. Nobody likes paying taxes. But taxes are particularly irksome when they are raised to pay for someone else’s mistakes!” This is such a true statement and it is difficult to really say whether France and Germany should continue to bail out other nations. In my opinion, this could be a very slippery slope Germany and France are embarking on. Let’s say that Germany and France bail Greece out and all is well. However, what about the multiple other nations that are facing economic crises? If Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain need help, will France and Germany come to their rescue? If France and Germany continue to help out other nations by the hands of their own economies, what will the outcome be? Playing banker could be detrimental to France and Germany, especially with the world market being so fragile. So, what exactly can the United
States learn from Europe? Perhaps the United States’ government should learn what Greece’s has: you should not amass a debt exceeding the economic output. Greece faced the issue of an economy in recession, and according to Dr. Hollander: “Greece’s solution to this problem was to spend money it didn’t have, a wonderfully sound public policy in the short term—and one that many countries, including the U.S., are starting to follow. But not something that works particularly well in the long term when the people who lent you the money—the money that you spent on things that you now can’t afford—return and want their money back. Many a U.S. homeowner is very familiar with this situation.” Looking at Greece’s example, the United States should definitely be making long-term decisions instead of these very shortly lived programs that are costing billions and even into the trillions of dollars. Can future generations handle the amount that we are spending right now? Greece is incredibly small in comparison to the United States, but even to economic giants such as Germany and France, the debt it has created is a large problem. If the comparatively small debt Greece
has produced has become such a large problem in the eyes of the world, what will the debt of the United States look like when it finally gets to that point? The great debate in 2012 will be about the economy. Let’s be completely honest, the economy will be the foremost argument in the Presidential race. If the question is what we can learn from Europe’s current crisis, then the straightforward answer is to stop spending money like a teenaged girl who just got her first credit card. Although this is a harsh reality, fiscal conservatism is proving to be the logical approach to the economy and even Democrats are beginning to agree. I have no doubt that Germany and France will pull Greece out of its economic crisis, but will there always be a Germany or a France to bail out less fortunate nations? In our case, probably not.
*A special thanks to Dr. Hollander for his continuing support for the Conservative Union and productive discourse. We appreciate all he has done and is doing for our organization and other organizations on campus.
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