The Greek prime minister is in Washington this week as part of a world tour seeking help for his beleaguered homeland. Greece is broke, its government on the verge of default. As Papandreou landed in Washington, there were strikes in the streets of
Athens over his tax increases, his wage cuts for government workers and his scaling back of retirement benefits.
As he and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced the cameras Monday, she spoke of the weekend's election in Iraq. "Greece is the birthplace of democracy, so anytime there's a democratic election anywhere in the world, Greece should get a royalty, Prime Minister," Clinton said.cratic election anywhere in the world, Greece should get a royalty, Prime Minister," Clinton said.
To pull Greece back from the edge, Papandreou has promised to cut the deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2012. For the U.S. government to make an equivalent cut, it would have to shut down the Pentagon and a few other agencies: the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, the Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, plus the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA -- and even then we'd come up a few dollars short. Greece had to hit bottom before it acted. The United States seems determined to do the same.
For the complete report: Dana Milbank - From Greece, an economic cautionary tale for the U.S. - washingtonpost.com
No comments:
Post a Comment