The occasionally brilliant John Stossel is out with a good column. Stossel attended Freedomfest in Las Vegas recently and learned about countries such as New Zealand and Canada, which saw their economies greatly improve after cutting government spending.
Greece, however, has been in the news for years, unable to stay afloat financially. Greece recently defaulted on an IMF loan and has gotten another (its third) big bailout. Greece has agreed to cut government spending by only 3 percent.
One in four Greek workers still works for government (vs. one in seven in the U.S.). Greek politicians run government “businesses” that employ politicians’ cronies. In other words, Greece has barely begun what I would call austerity.
Stossel also described the worsening economic conditions in Puerto Rico.
A recent island governor tried to cut Puerto Rico’s bloated government. Luiz Fortuno fired thousands of workers and made it easier to open a business. The economy improved. But firing workers isn’t popular. Fortuno lost the next election and his successor increased spending and raised taxes. Of course that didn’t work. Now Puerto Rico can’t pay its $70 billion debt.
