Considering the election results this past weekend, I suppose you can add France to that list of countries on their way down the crapper.
(Although Spain may be forgiven a bit because of the gross failure of the government’s infatuation with AGW/Green.)
“Although Spain may be forgiven a bit because of the gross failure of the government’s infatuation with AGW/Green.”
Each of the countries’ politicians create their own excuses for their problems. Spanish and Portuguese may blame environmental/energy programs, Greek blames austerity/Germany, Franch blames the bankers or immigrants, American blames Wall Street, etc. In the checkbook, it doesn’t matter what they spent the money on. It only matters how much is owed relative to receipts. The voters in each country will vote more more debt because in each country the voters don’t connect public debt with personal responsibility. Of course, in the US the people getting the handouts don’t pay taxes in proportion to the handouts. In Greece and other countries, the consequence is unemployment, fewer handouts, and eventually lower purchasing power. However, until the individual voter can actually feel the pain, he or she will vote for more socialist handouts—vote till it hurts.
My summary of the recent French and Greek elections is simply, “vote till it hurts”.