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T H U R S DAY, D E C E M B E R 8 , 2 0 1 1

John Stossel

COMMENTARY

Cal Thomas

America is 10 years from becoming Greece Its a tough time for Jews

merica moves steadily toward the cliff. When Greece blew up, its government debt was 126 percent of gross domestic product. Ours is on track to exceed that in about 10 years. If we havent learned from Greece, might we learn when other countries blow up? That may be about to happen, says Daniel Hannan, author of The New Road to Serfdom: A Letter of Warning to America. Hannan, a British member of the European Parliament, says, The consequences of the better part of 40 years of reckless borrowing have caught up with us. I told him that most Americans dont notice Europe struggling. I hear people say: I went to Paris. I went to Rome. Things are OK. Things are OK in the same sense that a house that is massively overmortgaged can still be a nicelooking house. ... But there comes a point when the bills are due, and weve reached that point. On the surface, things do look good on the other side of the Atlantic. Europeans have shorter workdays and longer vacations than Americans. Many of us would say, Sounds good. In the short term, its lovely. Whats not to like? ... The trouble is you cant carry on doing that indenitely. ... In the mid-1970s, Western Europe accounted for more than a third of the worlds economy. Today, its about a quarter. And in 2020, it will be 15 percent. Thats the reality of burdening yourself with more taxes, more regulations ... deeply uncompetitive practices. Adding to the scal burden is the fact that people live longer. Its a good problem to have. ... But, of course, the longer people live, the worse the (worker-toretiree) ratio grows. ... We introduced the old-age pension in the U.K. almost exactly 100 years ago. ... And in those days, you typically drew your pension for about 18 months. That was the gap between retirement and death. Fortunately, we can all now look forward to much longer periods of life. But, of course, youve got to pay for that. ... We are going to have to ask people to make a greater contribution or to retire later, or both. People dont want to hear that. Hannan notes that his fellow Europeans are remarkably selsh when it comes to things they think theyre entitled to. Some understand that cuts must be made, but dont touch their handouts. In France, they call it the droits acquis, the acquired rights. ... As the governments try belatedly to ...

AP FILE

America could nd itself in the same position as Greece unless it changes policies.

restore some order, some sanity to their public nances ... people who now feel entitled by right, and who have stopped thinking about where the money comes from ... quite understandably turn around and say: This wasnt what I expected when I started doing this job. Go and nd the money somewhere else. But there really isnt anywhere else. We Americans feel entitled, too. We work longer and harder than Europeans, but American students say they are entitled to government loans; industries and their friends in politics insist that housing, agriculture, energy and all sorts of other businesses deserve subsidies; and most everyone expects health care to be free, or nearly free. Many politicians tell people thats all possible, and some promise more. But that just moves us closer to the cliff. Why dont we learn? Because there are problems that must be solved, and politicians act so interested in our welfare that we believe them when they say, Yes, we can. But the educated response to Yes, we can is No, they cant. Not when they means government.
Examiner Columnist John Stossel is nationally syndicated by Creators Syndicate.

Our government should be a fraction of the size it is now. Its girth is the result of electioneering politicians who promise the moon to gullible voters while using debt to push the costs onto our children and grandchildren. Politicians can dream of guaranteed incomes and free medical care, but as economist Friedrich Hayek wrote in The Fatal Conceit: The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. But saying that government cant solve our problems is not to say that humanity cannot solve them. When people and markets are left free, we manage to prosper.

n a season in which there is very little peace on Earth and even less good will toward men, it is a particularly tough time for Jews, who may be nding it more and more difcult to tell who their real friends are. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently red an unusually harsh salvo across the Israelis bow. In a speech at a Brookings Institution forum, he urged Israel to get to the d--n table for peace talks. It must have escaped Panettas notice that the Palestinians are the ones refusing to come to the d--n table unless their unacceptable demands are met. These include, depending on the day, the cessation of construction projects, even on pre-1967 Israeli land, the so-called right of return of Palestinian refugees, a concession by Israel to redraw its borders to 1967 lines though such borders would be completely indefensible against an inevitable attack and the redivision of Jerusalem, which Israel rightly sees as its capital. Meanwhile, the Palestinian side concedes almost nothing and fullls none of its promises. Neither is it held accountable for its behavior. Next, we heard from Howard Gutman, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium. In the ultimate case of blaming the victim, Gutman seemed to blame Israel for anti-Semitism when he spoke recently at an event hosted by the European Jewish Union. According to the Weekly Standard, Gutman said, A distinction should be made between traditional anti-Semitism, which should be condemned and Muslim hatred for Jews, which stems from the ongoing conict between Israel and the Palestinians. If Gutman had studied history, he would know that Muslim hatred of Jews predates by many centuries Israels 1948 rebirth as a Jewish state. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took her own jabs at Israel. She was quoted in the English edition of the Arab publication Al-Arabiya as saying she fears for the future of democracy in Israel and the rights of women. Why? Because of a newspaper story that told of patterns in certain small Orthodox Israeli neighborhoods where women are required to be separate from men in certain situations, such as when taking public transportation. In case Clinton hasnt noticed, gender segregation has long been practiced in religiously conservative Muslim societies. Events surrounding the so-called Arab Spring do not encourage condence that women will have more rights and freedom under emerging regimes than they have had
Examiner Columnist Cal Thomas is nationally syndicated by Tribune Media.

under previous dictatorships. But it is not only Jews who are being singled out for verbal abuse and physical attacks. In last months Smithsonian magazine, there was a revealing story by Joshua Hammer about the stepped-up attacks by Egyptian Muslims against Coptic Christians, who trace their lineage to the time of Christ. In fact, notes Hammer, attacks against Coptic churches and individual Christians have increased since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was deposed. Radical Muslims have little regard for other religious viewpoints. Arab-Israeli relations, or U.S.-Arab relations for that matter, are not likely to improve if the Muslim Brotherhood takes power in the coming election, though you wont be able to convince the U.S. State Department of that. In a November address to the Atlantic Council, William Taylor, the State Departments special coordinator for Middle East transitions pronounced, What we need to do is judge people and parties and movements on what they do, not what theyre called. Really? The Muslim Brotherhoods motto is Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel, grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood. Is that good enough to conclude for everyone, except Taylor, that the Muslim Brotherhood plans to behave very badly toward Israel? No intelligent person who has observed the media attacks against Israel (not to mention the many wars, countless terrorist incidents and continuing threats directed at Israels destruction) can credibly conclude that Israels enemies are merely hyperbolic. Despite all the agreements, goodwill gestures and disproportionate prisoner exchanges in which Israel has released hundreds of alleged terrorists in exchange for a single captured Israeli soldier or civilian, there are people who continue to advance the ction that only Israel stands in the way of peace. Its past time to stop taking potshots at Israel and start directing re at the prime suspects behind continuing war and turmoil in the region.

T H E WA S H I N G T O N E X A M I N E R