Our debtors may not be so forgiving

The parable of the Prodigal Son carries an important teachable moment: Having demanded all his inheritance, he quickly squandered it and was forced to slop pigs, to sleep among them and share their food. That’s exactly what Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain — PIIGS — are experiencing today. Having demanded entitlements, these governments are now facing painful austerity measures.

The Italian Minister of Welfare hopes its policy will avoid “collective impoverishment.” Socialism, hawked by President Obama as redistributing wealth and “shared sacrifice,” will inevitably result in the “equal sharing of misery,” as Winston Churchill put it, and what Margaret Thatcher decried: “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

The United States will squander its children’s futures if our leaders do not stop spending money we don’t have on entitlements we can’t afford. Will the Chinese sacrifice a fatted calf and forgive us our debt?

Michael J. Hanley

Park Ridge