Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
Again and again since Obama took office, our Mark Steyn has warned that expanding the welfare state isn't like raising or lowering the capital gains tax a few percentage points or choosing, say, to spend more money on the Navy and less on the Air Force. At some point--and Mark insists that we're approaching it--the welfare state becomes all but irreversible. Why? Because it corrupts the populace, rendering people incapable of taking responsibility for themselves.
In the current issue of Vanity Fair, Michael Lewis confirms Mark's argument. Not that he intends to do so. What he intends to do is report on the astounding mess in Greece. But Lewis is a shrewd reporter. Get a load of this:
The Greek state was not just corrupt but corrupting. Once you saw how it worked you could understand a phenomenon which otherwise made no sense at all: the difficulty Greek people have in saying a kind word about one another. Individual Greeks are delightful: funny, warm, smart, and good company....[But] the hardest thing to do in Greece is to get one Greek to compliment another behind his back. No success of any kind is regarded without suspicion. Everyone is pretty sure everyone is cheating on his taxes, or bribing politicians, or taking bribes, or lying about the value of his real estate....The epidemic of lying and cheating and stealing makes any sort of civic life impossible; the collapse of civic life only encourages more lying, cheating, stealing....
The structure of the Greek economy is collectivist, but the country, in spirit, is the opposite of a collective. Its real structure is every man for himself....
The day before I left Greece the Greek Parliament debated and voted on a bill to raise the retirement age, reduce government pensions, and otherwise reduce the spoils of public-sector life....Thousands upon thousands of government employees take to the streets to protest the bill. Here is Greece's version of the Tea Party: tax collectors on the take, public-school teachers who don't really teach, well-paid employees of bankrupt state railroads whose trains never run on time, state hospital workers bribed to buy overpriced supplies....a nation of people looking for anyone to blame but themselves....
There's no question that the government is resolved to at least try to re-create Greek civic life. The only question is: Can such a thing, once lost, ever be re-created?
You'll have to hold your nose to flip past the silly, ham-fisted hit piece on Sarah Palin to find it, but "Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds" is an astute, marvelous read.
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May '10
Re: Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
Lewis's description of how Greeks regard each other is a very close description of how the president and his closest political allies view business (or "the rich").
May '10
Re: Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
From a letter John Adams wrote to his wife in 1775:
May '10
Re: Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
Which unfortunately is how most astute reporting is handled, buried somewhere between the latest on Lindsay Lohan and meringue-dancing golden retrievers.
May '10
Re: Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
Didn't we hear the same stories about communism and socialism in general? I believe Claire quotes Thatcher on this very point. All of these states corrupted their people, leaving them, at best, cynical and despondent. Adjectives like suspicious and uncooperative come to mind as well.
Let's look at some contrasts. The Germans raise the retirement age from 65 to 67 and everyone gets to work. The French propose raising it from 60 to 62 and there are massive strikes. The Greeks riot to avoid responsibility, and in the US the Tea Parties march to demand that they be given back responsibility.
Earlier generations could speak without irony of the admirable qualities of the American character. It was once thought our greatest asset.
Jun '10
Re: Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
On the surface, unrelated, but related to that "free lunch" attitude (of socialist systems,) of selfishness that eats away at the soul and causes destruction:
Fr. Robert Barron Comments on "The Sopranos"
http://www.wordonfire.org/WOF-TV/Commentaries-New/Fr--Robert-Barron-Comments-on--The-Sopranos-.aspx
Re: Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
But it was all a charade anyway. The Greeks never had the kind of economic growth that could sustain the kind of credit bubble they created. It was -- and I know this sounds odd -- a false bubble.
Healthy economies expand and contract. Healthy economies, actually, experience bubbles every now and then. (I don't care what the morons behind the financial reform bill say: we're still gonna have recessions, we're still gonna have bubbles, because we're still gonna have people...)
The Greeks never had a growth economy. They never had real fiscal discipline of any kind. (Their EU-qualifying figures were probably made up.) So joining the EU was like joining the Free Money Club. Which as we all know, doesn't exist. And now the Greeks know it, too. And so do their bondholders.
As I predicted months and months ago on the podcast, there's only one way this story ends: the Greeks default on their loans. That's the best possible ending here, because it will teach both spendthrift governments -- and foolhardy creditors -- a sharp, painful lesson.
May '10
Re: Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
The seemingly hopeless economic mess of Greece is important, but the more interesting point in that blurb is the distrust among Greeks, the factional nature of the society. Here in the U.S. only one of the major parties promotes such balkanization of the citizens, such gotta-get-what's-mine attitudes. Maybe, just maybe, the grand coalition of competing interests that make up the Democratic Party will be the seed of its own destruction: If their core ideology is to reward and appease groups through government action, Democrats might find it difficult to avoid fostering dissatisfaction, alienation, and resentment among its competing constituents: blacks vs hispanics vs women vs Muslims vs gays vs enviros vs big business vs unions vs etc.
Promoting the rights of the individual over this or that group might, in the long run and with some irony, have a more pacifying effect on the population, and might also be the better bet for maintaining a united political party.
Jul '10
Re: Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
Lewis identifies the heart of Greece's woes as the fact that Greeks "....never learned to pay their taxes."
Greece is a country full of doctors who report nominal incomes of 12,000 euros, but own three beach houses. 70% of the country is self employed and there's a huge black market. If the tax collector happens to knock on your door, you just bribe him. Failing that, you're assured that your prosecution won't be on the docket for 12 to 15 years.
Frankly, I'm envious. Laugh at your taxes and - if you happen to work in one of hundreds of "harzardous" jobs - you can retire on full pension at age 50.
Bliss it is to be Greek! Labor away as a self-employed poodle-groomer, pay zero taxes and retire at 50, with subsidy from the good burghers of Dusseldorf.
It all works really swell.
Until the government runs out of budget for riot-gas canisters.
Edited on Sep 9, 2010 at 6:35pmJul '10
Re: Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
Rob Long:
So joining the EU was like joining the Free Money Club. Which as we all know, doesn't exist.
Holy Cow, Rob. I don't come to Ricochet for that kinda downer talk.
Go ahead and sneer and be all negative, buddy.
Me? I happen to have a sort of new friend. Daughter of the former Minister of Mines in Nigeria.
See who'll have the last laugh now.
May '10
Re: Michael Lewis on Mark Steyn (Sort Of)
Peter, thanks for the link, what a great article. Is the US heading that way? I wonder how long before the class envy takes place, not against the rich but against the gov. elites, making twice what the poor schulbs in the private sector make.......