Greeks, French, vote for Germans to keep picking up their tab

Do you want an opinion on the second round of Greek elections?

Oh, go on then.

Well, with two-thirds of the vote counted it seems the New Democracy Party can command about 130 seats in the 300-seat Parliament.  New Democracy is for bailouts and the Eurozone and living beyond their means, but wants to “renegotiate” what it owes and to slow down what it pays back.

New Democracy could technically go into coalition with any of the other top four, either Pasok, Syriza or Independents. Pasok also wants to stay in the Eurozone, also wants to live beyond its means, and also wants to renegotiate the bailouts. But Pasok won’t go into a coalition without Syriza (who oppose bailouts, oppose paying anything back, and want to the Eurozone to keep paying them to stay in), and Syriza won’t go into coalition with New Democracy.

Clear?

Which seems to mean that there will be a third round of elections sometime not very soon (and maybe a fourth or never-ending round), and all the while and whatever the result Greece’s debts will continue growing, its repayments will continue shrinking, and the Eurozone will continue its collapsing. But by the time of that third election (and maybe fourth) election, there will be bigger disasters that Greece for Europeans to worry about.

They’re called Spain and Italy.

And maybe France, if the newly elected Socialist government really does pursue its own policy of faking reality and sending German taxpayers the bill.

And why wouldn’t they, since it’s worked so well for Greece.

The problem with socialism, as Margaret Thatcher famously observed, is that eventually you run out of other people’s money. But when other people’s money is offered to voters, especially the money of another country’s taxpayers, why wouldn’t taxpayers vote to keep taking it?