We're Not Europe

Despite the efforts of Barack Obama to drag us in that direction, we're not Europe.  Just a few weeks ago, France showed its character by responding to its fiscal woes by election socialist Francois Hollande, who promised nothing but more burdens on wealth creators and no adjustment to the lifestyles of the government elite.  Despite the organized efforts of the left to recall Scott Walker, the people of Wisconsin sent a strong message that common sense (note the title of the blog) will prevail in that state. Sure, there was a great deal of caterwauling about taking away workers rights but in the final analysis, states simply do not have the money to provide rich retirement packages that far outstrip anything that these people could obtain in the private sector.

And the people of Wisconsin have sent a message.

You see, part of being and American is working hard and sacrificing so the next generation has a shot at a better life.  It's in our DNA.

The European model is the opposite.   Screw the next generation.  We want ours now.

Stuart Varney (Fox Business) correctly observed that young people will lose opportunities and will be sacrificed because state and municipal governments are paying so much to retirees.  It's even worse than Varney asserts.  State universities are being strangled because of these overly generous pension obligations.  And state universities (and the junior college systems) are the key to opportunity for young people.

So the left wants to sacrifice the future to pay for the workforce of the past.  That's an inversion of the American ideal.  We sacrifice now so future generations can do better.

Wisconsin voters stepped up and said "enough is enough."  They figured out that it is fundamentally unfair to demand that private sector workers continue to work into their 60's and 70's so that public sector workers can be off fishing by their mid-50's.  In many state houses across the land, voters are waking up to the fiscal catastrophe that politicians have foisted on them through these bloated public sector pensions.  The math just doesn't work.

I predict that more and more states will wisely come to grips with this issue (California and Illinois being notable exceptions and will continue to drown in red ink while businesses flee those states).  Kudos to the people of Wisconsin.