Yesterday, I took aim at a truly pathetic human being who lives as an “adult baby.” But what got me upset was not his lifestyle, but rather the fact that he was mooching off the taxpayers thanks to the dumb bureaucrats at the Social Security Administration, who granted him “disability’ status, which means he gets to live the rest of his life at the expense of taxpayers.
Is it possible, though, for an entire nation to live as an adult baby? I don’t know the answer, but some people in Portugal want to give it a try. Here is an excerpt from the EU Observer, featuring some jaw-dropping assertions by a Portuguese union boss.
Speaking at a rally in the western German town of Meschede on Tuesday evening, Merkel suggested southern Europeans are not working enough, while Germans are expected to bail them out. “It is also about not being able to retire earlier in countries such as Greece, Spain, Portugal than in Germany, instead everyone should try a little bit to make the same efforts – that is important,” she said. …”Yes Germany will help but Germany will only help when the others try. And that must be clear,” she said. Her comments sparked outrage on the German political scene, with the Social Democratic opposition calling her “populist” for giving a “coarse representation of Greek realities,” while the European Greens labelled her remarks “absurd.” In Portugal, trade unionist were also angered by the suggestion that southern Europeans are having a nice time on the beach while the Germans are working hard for their bailouts. “This is the purest colonialism,” Portuguese trade union chief Manuel Carvalho da Silva said, as quoted by DPA. He blasted Merkel for showing “no solidarity” and supporting a system where “the rich continue to live at the expense of the poorest countries in a disastrous system of exploitation.”
Let’s parse Mr. da Silva’s remarks. He starts by accusing Merkel of colonialism, but he never explains why refusing to write more blank checks means the German Chancellor is a colonialist.
Mr. da Silva then says Merkel is failing to show “solidarity.” But this assumes that German taxpayers have a moral obligation to support fiscally reckless politicians and interest groups in Portugal and other nations.
Last but not least, Mr. da Silva claims Merkel is promoting a system that allows the rich to exploit the poor. This accusation actually is true, but not in the way Mr. da Silva means. This post, using a chart put together by the New York Times, shows that the bailouts are mostly for the purpose of bailing out the big European banks that foolishly bought bonds from irresponsible governments. In other words, poor German taxpayers are subsidizing rich (and foolish) German bankers.
