Quid, Me Anxius Sum?*

SOCIALISM

1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2   a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property
     b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

As The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Great Britain once said, "The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money."

As we well know, the European Union is in a financial shambles and is close to collapse. This past weekend France elected Francois Hollande, a Socialist, with—evidently—the hope he will find a way to lighten the austerity measures being pushed by Germany as the last-ditch effort to hold the EU together.

In Greece, anti-austerity parties won recent elections handily, showing the voters' anger over those same cutbacks to fiscal policies that are bankrupting nation after nation. They seem to be shouting, "damn the (economic) torpedoes...Full Speed Ahead!"

I'm reminded of Alfred E. Neuman's famous question/statement in Mad magazine:
                           What, Me Worry?* (the post title is the Latin translation)

I'm not intelligent enough to say what these developments may mean to our own November elections, but I have a nagging feeling the winner could well be the one promising the most for nothing, a chicken in every pot, and cradle-to-grave protection from any and all ills. Just think about the millions of our citizens benefiting from those federal programs; they do vote, after all. Here at home, well over 40% of our income earners in 2009 paid NO income taxes, according to the Tax Foundation (see: http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html). Turn that around and one might say that just over half of us paying income taxes are footing the entire expense of all those federal programs. Just sayin'...

Something's got to give, here and abroad. This craziness just cannot continue.