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Originally Posted by Slava
This has nothing to do with my personal thoughts or ideology (which aren't as left as you might think). Greece would be in much better shape if they controlled their own fate here. They could either default or print money and keep things rolling. As it stands they're basically stuck in the middle; if they press forward with severe austerity to make their creditors happy then they face rebellion from the citizens, but if they don't the bailout money stops flowing and the country can't meet any obligations.
The right wing in North America is now fond of fear-mongering by telling us that we don't want to become the next Greece. Of course we don't. The fact is that not many of us want to end up where the US was in 2008-2009 either. They got there without the socialist policies and without regulation either.
These kinds of policies are not what leads a country to bankruptcy though. Instead this is penny-wise and pound-foolish. The Harper government would rather spend the money on fancy new jets than it would on an existing program like this. That is the kind of spending that's a problem. Long-term, large cost and maintenance for decades.
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Not to mention that people love to point at Greece and ignore the likes of Germany and Sweden.