Greece Passes Austerity Package, Receives Another Loan, Deceives Desperate Investors

Greece does not deserve another bailout.

The nation deserves to sink into the Aegean, not just for failing to balance its books, for creating a nation of spoiled adult-children entitled to retire at 45 with a generous pension, but for defrauding their entry into the Euro Zone.

Cut them loose. Let them flounder through bankruptcy for a season, like the wily Odysseus who lied his way out of trouble, only to enrage the God of the Sea.

Greece should not have duped and demeaned the Kings of Global Finance.

Did the Greeks really think that the party of public corruption, private concupiscence, and rampant fraud would last forever? Did the Hellenes not realize that at some point, the bill for generous public offerings would come due?

Investors, Euro Zone members, and the United States are worried that a default from Greece would induce the rest of the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) to default on their onerous debt, which would lead to massive bank failures across Europe and shake investors throughout the world.

Yet these stopgap measures with piece-meal bailouts, are they working? Have they succeeded in creating any long-term stability in the financial markets? Investors are doubly deceived: deceived by the Greek government's smoke and mirrors to handle its debt, and deceived by themselves into heeding the desperate threat of a Mediterranean nation which has not made any serious moves to fiscal solvency in many years.

The Greek Parliament, after weathering a no-confidence vote over Papandreou's leadership, passed a severe austerity package. This legislation will severely curtail state services, raise taxes (always a bad idea in bad economic times), and privatize public utilities (right idea, but too little, too late).

The Greeks have risen up in arms in the streets. The Government is finally accepting responsibility for its financial house, and they are accepting the voters to do the same. Judging by the fires, the fights, and the disorderly conduct rising in the streets, the people do not seem one bit willing to step up and take charge of the wide debt incurred by lavish promises which the state no longer can afford.

If the Greek people are ever going to learn from the follies of socialism and embrace free market reforms, they may have to endure living in a nation which has defaulted on its debt and is no longer able to borrow money for the foreseeable future.