Destruction and default

Parliament is going through the final steps of passing legislation that will create a record budget deficit next year. At the same time, the international press is calling increasing attention to the exploding budget deficit in the U.S. Both the Economist and the New York Times have recently cited Stein's Law: "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." The day of reckoning must come. In an unusually candid interview in Právo in Aug., Premier Špidla showed he understands this. "We're at the end of a certain stage of civilization," he said, "and now's the time for us to change." In history, he said, whenever public finance has gotten out of control, the welfare state has been hopelessly destroyed. Yet his government is doing little to avoid the inevitable. It's a rare politician who admits that he's leading his people down the road to destruction and default. Vladimír