All The Troubles In the World

Greece is in trouble.  Ireland is in trouble.  The EU is in trouble.  The United States is in trouble.  In fact, according to the CIA, 14 of 15 countries in the world are in some sort of economic disarray and running government deficits.  There is little in the way of recovery in most countries.  What appears to be the common theme here?

The countries currently experiencing some sort of recovery are either rich in natural resources, like Argentina or have a cost structure unencumbered by heavy regulation and social spending.  Those countries remaining in recession or experiencing low growth and large budget deficits have governments which heavily regulate and tax and provide large social programs for their people, such as government-provided pensions and socialized healthcare.  These are also countries that have used large government spending programs, running huge deficits to extract themselves from the current economic downturn.  This has been largely unsuccessful.

In the United  States, little was put toward the private sector, but was instead directed toward bailouts of Democrat constituencies (Wall Street and unions) and public works projects.  The number of government jobs and their pay has increased while the private sector has pulled back.  Growth is anemic.  Can we now say Keynesian Economics doesn't work?

The Left loves to talk about "The failed (economic) policies of the past 8 years", but the true case here is that this is a problem with the failed socioeconomic policies of the past 50 years.  Spending on social programs by governments has become unsustainable across the globe.  High taxes, low growth, staggering deficits and heavy regulation are stifling private sector growth.

Time for some "Change You Can (really) Believe In".