Time’s Up (Greece)

by Karl Denninger

The suspension of the talks in Athens between the government and a group of officials representing the providers of Greece’s bailout cash came, officials said, amid a dispute about how to address new gaps opening up in the government budget deficit.

“The Greek side insisted the missed targets are the result of the recession. The troika said recession played a part, but Greece basically didn’t keep up with its commitments, so more measures will be needed to make up for the lost ground,” said a person with direct knowledge of the talks.

The answer, of course, is quite simple – there and here:

That which your people will not pay for with current tax revenues your government cannot provide in services.

The willful and intentional refusal to deal with this fact as it stands is why we’re in this mess on a global basis. We’re in it as people, as companies, as states and as nations.  We continue to look for the Unicorn that craps out little colored candies but in fact no such animal exists as the fact remains that this animal is a myth.

Instead of facing the truth we not only lie to ourselves but permit our politicians to lie to us, claiming that we can have “free” medical care, “free” retirement income, “free” roads, “free” security services of various sorts and “free” food stamps.

There is no such thing as “free”; the government can only take production from one person by force and give it to another.  That’s all the government can ever do.

I have gotten downright intolerant on the forum of people claiming otherwise.  Every time someone runs this line of crap I demand they put up numbers.  They weasel and prevaricate – this is all the evidence I need that they know damn well they’re lying – and this essentially always ends with me pushing the button when my patience expires with those who claim we can do something but never tell us how it’s going to be accomplished on a durable basis because they’re damn well aware that it can’t happen.

Oh, and if you think it’s just Greece?  It’s not.  Italy is next:

“The ECB and euro system as a whole consider the measures announced by the government…extremely important in order to rapidly diminish the public deficit of Italy and improve the flexibility of the Italian economy,” Mr. Trichet told a conference of bankers, business leaders gathered on the shores of Lake Como.

“This is absolutely decisive to consolidating and reinforcing the quality and the credibility of Italy’s strategy and credit-worthiness,” he added.

It’s the same debate folks – in Italy, in Greece and in the United States.

We must stop playing political games now and face reality.

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