As most of us already know, the Greek government is bankrupt.
So far, it has been forced to cut expenses by 34%.
That means they have already made deep cuts in pension payments, government employee incomes, and government employee headcount. And they are just getting started.
The Greek economy is in free-fall and likely to set the record for the most severe depression in a modern country so far this Century.
Our collective problem is that the Greek experience will soon seem commonplace. Almost all of the nations in the West are headed towards a Greek style bankruptcy given current trends. The US deficit alone is running at over a trillion a year with NO end in sight. So, eventual bankruptcy of the US and most of the EU isn’t a question of what is right or just or what could happen in a perfect world. It’s what is likely to happen.
Given this, the question you should be asking yourself is: What would happen if the US and the EU cut their budgets as deeply as Greece? What if there was an across the board budget cut of 40%?
This is an important question since it is almost certain to happen and it will be ugly. Why? The number of people that…
- currently work for the government,
- get a government pension (or military pension),
- or get social security/medicare/income support payments
Or, what if you live in a community where more than half of the people also depend on government income?
I could go on, but you should get the point.
All of these questions wouldn’t be worrisome if you were a) resilient or b) lived in a resilient community.
Stay tuned.
A man that’s very confident that we can figure out solutions together,
John Robb
PS: For extra credit, here’s a map that shows which counties in the US are the most dependent on government income support (by type of government support). It might be useful when you are trying to decide where to live.
PPS: If you know someone that is reliant on the government for their income and they are oblivious. Forward them this article.
