Elections Matter

This is my quick take on what just happened over in Europe.  There were elections held most notably in Greece and France that resulted in the ousting of the political leaders who negotiated most of the reforms that or attempted reforms that you may have heard about in the news.  Anytime you heard the word "austerity" you were probably hearing about something coming out of Europe.  I won't pretend to truly know what I'm talking about but this is my take on what I think is happening.  Prior to the formation of the Eurozone most of the countries in Europe maintained relatively liberal fiscal policy when it came to things like education, healthcare, and just social services in general.  This was great but most of it was bought using borrowed money, similar to how the US operates now.  Then they thought, wouldn't it be great if we could have a credit card with a bigger limit.  With the Euro that is what they got.  Then 2008 happened and they suddenly realized they were going to start having a problem paying the minimum payment.  This is when the dreaded austerity word first reared it's ugly head.  The good people of Europe were going to be forced to "cut back"?  What?  Cut back, what does that mean?  Like a teenager who just got their cell phone taken away they rebelled.  The leaders were the parents and the populace was the child.  Only in this case the teenager is allowed to vote out his parents and replace him with one of his friends.  In the hopes of what I wonder?  That the money for their socialist paradise will magically appear and everything will go back to how it was?  I would like to think that the people aren't really that dumb and that this election was merely their way of saying,"hey times are tough and somebody's gotta get fired".  I get that.  I have a feeling that situation isn't going to get any better.  This all goes back to what I've been saying for a long time.  You can't take stuff away from people.  Do it, or try to do it, and you are gone.