The Greek and European Union Crisis Is the Result of Collectivism

The fiscal- and other economic-policy problems that are plaguing Greece are simply the highly magnified and intensified problems that are affecting many of the other European nations.

Many of them have accumulated large national debts that press upon the fiscal capacities of their taxpayers. They all have highly regulated markets and restricted labor markets. They all have aging populations expecting generous government-funded pensions as the years go by. They all have costly welfare-state entitlement programs that must be financed through taxes and deficit financing.

They also share a generally anti-capitalistic mentality. Intellectuals, politicians, many in the electorates, and most certainly the national and EU bureaucrats neither understand nor advocate the classical liberal ideal of truly free markets or the wider political philosophy of individualism and individual rights to life, liberty, and honestly acquired property.

The market-oriented entrepreneur is neither trusted nor valued. Rather than being seen as an innovator and creator of new, better, and less-expensive products serving the betterment of the general consuming public, the business enterpriser is considered an exploiter, a manipulator, and selfish profit-seeker, only doing damage to the society in which he operates.

The free enterpriser must be either heavily controlled or regulated, or he must be put out of business. The only good businessman is one who works hand in hand with politicians and bureaucrats to manipulate and restrict markets for their mutual advantage.

--Richard M. Ebeling, "An Austrian Economist's Advice for Greece and the European Union," in Austrian Economics and Public Policy: Restoring Freedom and Prosperity (Fairfax, VA: The Future of Freedom Foundation, 2016), Kindle e-book.