Gas Pains
Tom grew up in Milwaukee, bartended in Wauwatosa in the '70s and moved here in 1984.
Commentary, observations and musings about the outdoors, life in general and maybe Tosa politics and personalities will be the order of the day. He savors a lively debate as much as terrific cooking.
Thelma and Louise, the Road to Greece and the Titanic - Part 2
My pal Paul Ryan is fond of explaining our country’s economic prospects as nothing more than another road to Greece.
And I’m going to call him out on that.
I’ve never been to Greece so maybe he knows something I don’t - but I cannot find a Greek company anywhere in the top 10. Or the top 100. Or even the top 500 list of companies. I’ll bet if Oprah were a corporation she would be larger than most any Greek corporation. But I digress.
Let me be clear - I have nothing against Greece or the Greek people. I even like Greek food. I did not invent the analogy either. Ryan did. Nevertheless, the country of Greece isn’t run very well. There is much in the nation of Greece that needs to be fixed. Let me share with you a short list of four things.
1. People in the United States work hard. We work exceedingly hard. We’re a nation of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship in Greece lags much of the world. As evidence of this reread the paragraph above about the top 500 companies. This might explain why our nation is a magnet for immigrants – both legal and otherwise. We remain the world’s land of opportunity. Anybody that tells you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about.
2. The public sector of Greece is a basket case. Patronage and a lack of accountability are endemic. Corruption is rampant. It is a model of inefficiency. I’m not saying our public sector is perfect but the taxpayers do a pretty good job of holding it accountable.
3. Which is an appropriate segue to the issue of taxes. The non-payment of taxes in Greece has been elevated to an art form. Tax evasion is a national pastime. It has been hypothesized that if Greece would only impose a nominal flat tax and succeed in enforcing compliance that most of their fiscal problems would go away. Here in the good old US of A if I don’t pay my taxes I could wind-up in jail for tax evasion. At a minimum I would be inundated with lawyers and liens. You see - we have courts and no shortage of lawyers.
4. In contrast - Greece has a disfunctional judiciary.
So let’s agree that we’re not Greece nor are we on the road to becoming Greece. Anybody that tells you otherwise is unpatriotic.
Next we can discuss The Titanic.
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