As Greece's socialist policies and government-coddled 11-million population drag down the whole of the euro zone with their unwillingness to reform their unsustainable programs, the issue of whether other European nations should step in and, quite literally, 'rescue' Athens from themselves with a bailout fund continues to simmer. Greece's half-baked, hesitant attempts to fix their fiscal mess, usually with qualifiers like "over the next ten years" and whatnot, hardly warrant such generosity, and will certainly not provide any foundation for Europe's long-term economic growth. Not all of the EU's member countries are particularly pleased with the idea of bailing out the Greek money pit, and have proposed that Greece take a bit of a timeout from self-government. Socialism breeds tyranny:
Some euro zone countries want a European Commission task force to be given extra powers to oversee the sale of Greek state assets and the country's civil service under a far-reaching plan to tighten supervision of Athens, EU sources told Reuters.
The radical proposal, dismissed by some officials as a form of colonialism and which may be shot down in the face of such criticism, underscores mounting pressure for stricter policing of Athens, with some ready to demand its sovereignty be clipped.
The European Commission said no such plan was in the works.
Euro zone leaders meet on Sunday to discuss further aid for Greece, with countries such as Germany and the Netherlands frustrated by Athens' lack of progress on privatisation and other reforms. Tighter controls are high on the agenda.
"Support for stronger supervision". In the words of one official, partly reflects dissatisfaction in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Finland towards Greece and its failure to bring its finances more rapidly into check.
Emphasising the need for far tighter oversight of Greece's economy, one euro zone source who supports the idea of giving the Commission task force more power said: "It's that or not getting the money."
Yes, you read that correctly - a few nations are proposing a commission be assigned to actually step in, commandeer the Greek government, and manage the small country's finances. While it looks like it won't actually happen, countries are starting to voice their concerns that that may really be the only solvent option. The situation is that bad. Greece is already running on a serially-dispersed 110 billion euro bailout awarded to them last year, they still can't get their fiscal mess in order, and they are pulling everybody else down with them. And some of the Greek people are actually holding anti-austerity rallies in the streets.
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." It's time to wake up, America.
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