Not Good: This Is What the Eurozone Financial Crisis Is Really About

Many people will look at a financial crisis as a distant thing, especially if they have a job. But if the crisis gets bad enough and the poorly created government infrastructure begins to collapse, things can get worse for all.

 Kate Kelland at Reuters has this report from Greece:

Greek hospitals are in such dire straits that staff are failing to keep up basic disease controls such as using gloves and gowns, threatening a rise in multidrug-resistant infections, according to Europe's top health official.

Greece already has one of the worst problems in Europe with hospital-acquired infections, and disease experts fear this is being made worse by an economic crisis that has cut health care staffing levels and hurt standards of care.

With fewer doctors and nurses to look after more patients, and hospitals running low on cash for supplies, risks are being taken even with basic hygiene, said Marc Sprenger, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

"I have seen places...where the financial situation did not allow even for basic requirements like gloves, gowns and alcohol wipes," Sprenger said after a two-day trip to Athens, where he visited hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

For Americans, this is just a distant horror at present, but Obamacare is on its way. It's constructed in a manner that defies the basic laws of economics. It takes away incentives, while increasing demand, and it will put added financial pressure on the government. Add to this the likelihood of strong inflation in the years ahead and the situation could eventually become just as dire as it now is in Greece.

The recent Hurricane Sandy provided an object lesson in the poor economic thinking of political leadership. Both Governors Cuomo and Christie instead of removing price controls on gasoline, which would have drawn much needed gasoline into the region, instituted gas rationing. Will political leadership institute price controls and rationing when the health crisis boils over? It's a strong possibility.  Then the situation will deteriorate very quickly and hospital related shortages will come. It won't happen today, but Obamacare will set the crisis in motion. It may take a 2 to 5 years for it to develop in its entirety, but it sure looks like it will occur here and it won't be pretty.