European debt crisis foreshadows coming American revolution.

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"Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong. Europe is a geographical expression."
--Otto von Bismark

Facts about a Greek default: analysts note Greek debt is far above earlier national defaults, so ripple effects could be far more serious. Total Greek public debt is about $500 billion. By comparison, Argentina’s debt was $82 billion when it defaulted in 2001; when Russia defaulted, in 1998, its debt was $79 billion.

Charles Kadlec (picture), writing in Forbes, not only links Europe’s failing elite to their cousins in Washington, but also guesses any trans-Atlantic elite failure improves Republican (called “Tea Party”) prospects:

The looming Greek default and the nascent financial crisis in Europe is a symptom of . . . governing elite [failure]. At risk is the background consensus that supported the expansion of government to the point that public spending now accounts for roughly half of all economic activity among the 17 nations in the eurozone [up from 28% of Western Europe’s GDP in 1965].

A destruction of that consensus would imply a massive loss of power by the elites who for decades have declared that given the power, they could produce an economy with less risk and more fairness than free market capitalism. . . The promises broken during this adjustment will betray the fundamental belief by many in the wisdom of the governing elites and the benevolence of government.

The pending failure of the governing elites to deliver on their most basic promises is setting off alarm bells in Washington[, raising] concern that Europe’s failure will tarnish America’s governing elite, providing additional energy to the Tea Party’s call for restoring limited, constitutional government in the U.S.