CAPTION.
CREDIT
I feel sorry for the young people of Greece (“The Wheels Come Off,” Michael A. Walsh, PostOpinion, June 29).
Their future was bargained away and stolen by corrupt politicians who gave absolutely no thought as to how their largess would be paid for in the long run and by their fellow Greeks who felt entitled to everything they wanted, as long as someone else was paying for it.
This once-proud country is now a pauper nation and a joke.
Who knows how many generations it will take to repair the damage?
The worst part is that President Obama and some of my fellow Americans want to emulate the Greek model.
Cathy Vasilakos
Brooklyn
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Democracy sometimes works in mysterious ways. Both Greece and California recently voted to make themselves much poorer economic entities.
For California, it will mean less money for education, the needy, the disabled, the courts and even the state parks.
For Greece, the newly passed “austerity” plan will result in tax increases, wage cuts, severe spending cuts, privatization of public services, which will result in higher prices for goods and services, and a deeply lowered standard of living.
Such drastic economic measures were enacted to help stabilize these ailing economies.
Though democracy is much admired, it isn’t always a panacea for economic and other problems.
K. Zimmerman
Huntington Beach, Calif.
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America’s tax-and-spend party is ending.
Unless we want to end up in a situation like Greece, we had better get used to the idea that the best years of our nation are in the rearview mirror.
Unlike Michael A. Walsh, however, I believe that we will see street riots when our own debt-induced austerity hits the fan.
Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati