World markets shuddered today as the Prime Minister of Greece acted in a very unpredictable manner. Prime Minister Tsipras called for a vote by the Greek people on whether or not to accept bailout extension terms from their creditors. The crazy part is the referendum will take place on July 5th, five days AFTER they will have already defaulted on a 1.6 billion payment owed to to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). By the time the votes are counted, nobody will even know what they were voting on, and that’s assuming they understood any of it in the first place.
In the very city where democracy began, a call by leaders for a democratic referendum is setting up the Greek people for a financial disaster that will likely cripple their country for years if not decades. Capitalism works best in free democratic societies, but only to a point. If we are irresponsible with our democratic rights then there are consequences. As stewards of the greatest free society on Earth, we as Americans should heed the warnings that ring out from the birthplace of democracy.
RS
