The lessons of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and California for the U.S.

Over a century ago, I think it was de Tocqueville who quipped that democracy would work well in America until politicians figured out they can buy votes with benefits, programs, etc. We hit that point a long time back, and both liberals and conservatives have been guilty. Left-wing Democrats and Obama, however, are the most culpable so far.

Look at the patterns for the economic problems in Western Europe and many places in the U.S. such as California. In Europe, Italy is the latest (following Greece, Ireland and Portugal) to go into a financial crisis.

It is not rocket science to figure out how this happens on the city, state and national levels. Politicians offer high wages, generous retirements to government employees. Government lowers the retirement age and promises big benefits. Government employees and their unions, become strong political supporters.The poor a given handouts rather than real opportunities to improve their lot. The government really doesn't want these folks to become successful. Once their dependence on handouts end, they no longer need those politicians. The public slowly gets drawn in with programs. Anyone who hints that benefits, salaries, etc. might have to be cut will not get elected. The politician with the best handout package is likely to get elected. The deficits balloons and default and bankruptcy become likely. The government responds with job-creation programs that only exacerbate the deficit and creates no long-term jobs. Domestic and foreign investors get nervous and cut back. With no private sector investment, no jobs are resuscitated and no new jobs are created. Government bond ratings go down and the issuers have to raise the interest rates to get new borrowers. Leftists try to play the race card and the politics of envy. They blame corporations and Wall Street, when it's government that started and created the basic mess. It's a vicious circle. Austerity programs bring discontent and rioting. You don't have to be a genius to see that this is where the U.S. is headed. You can argue that this will not happen to the world's largest economy. However, when will China become the world's largest and most powerful economy and then the U.S. has to dance to all the Chinese, Saudi and other U.S. debt buyers? The handwriting is on the wall! If you can't figure out who to vote against in the 2012 presidential elections, there's no hope for you. However, it goes beyond that, vote for people with some realistic understanding of real world economics. As the Trojans said "beware of Greeks bearing gifts."