By Bill O'Reilly

You may have heard that the small country of Cyprus in the Mediterranean is totally broke. And one proposal from the Cypriot government was to forcibly, forcibly take money out of personal bank accounts on the island, steal it from the folks. Steal it to pay their bills.

Now the outcry was immediate and it will not happen but the lesson is important for Americans. Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, now Cyprus all broke. And other European nations are close. Why? Because they are nanny states and there are not enough workers to support all the entitlements these progressive paradises are handing out.

Enter the Congressional Progressive Caucus right here in the USA. It contains 73 members all of them Democrats except the Socialist Bernie Sanders from Vermont who is Independent. The CPC wants a 49 percent federal income tax rate on top earners. They want half. And they don't want many deductions for those folks. Also the Congressional Progressive Caucus wants even more government spending. $2.5 trillion more on, quote, "job creation". Another $2.2 trillion on things like science, energy, the environment and education. Also the CPC does not want to cut entitlements. And wants to give unemployed Americans 99 weeks of cash compensation. Nearly two years.

The question is what does President Obama think of the Congressional Progressive Caucus? My opinion, he likes it I don't think the President believes that crew is fanatical because they want what he wants. And by the way, the far-left kooks do want to cut one thing, defense spending. They want to bring that back down to 2006 level. Somewhere Iran is cheering.

As "Talking Points" has said on more than one occasion there comes a point when Americans are going to have to decide what country -- what kind of country they want. Even taking half of what affluent Americans earn, feds couldn't possibly afford what the far left wants to provide. So we would eventually become Greece or Cyprus if the U.S. dollar collapses and people stop lending us money.

Some conservatives believe that's exactly what the far-left wants. A collapse of the entire capitalistic system. Some on the right believe that President Obama is actively working toward that. Certainly Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont wants socialism in this country and so do most of his compatriots on the crazy caucus. Yet, Americans continue to elect them.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.