Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed. - George Burns

Saturday, June 19, 2010

It’s a sad day when the European Socialist States (TM) are exercising more fiscal responsibility than we are:

Europe will push for a swift exit from fiscal stimulus programs and a focus on budget consolidation at the G20 meeting next week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday.

“European participants are of the opinion that this is urgently necessary to prevent such crises from happening again in the future,” Merkel said in her weekly podcast.

...

Merkel’s stance contrasted with that of U.S. President Barack Obama, who this week said public finance problems should be addressed “in the medium term”—a warning that clamping down budgets should not be done at the expense of recovery.

European governments have been launching austerity measures to head off a spread of the debt crisis begun in Greece.

Merkel’s cabinet earlier this month unveiled Germany’s biggest post-war austerity drive, with planned budget cuts and taxes amounting to 80 billion euros over the next four years.

This will prove an interest test of Keynesian theories.  According to every screeching Leftist on the pages of the New York Times, this should plunge Europe into a depression while America soars to new heights on the wings of the Stimulus.  Of course, it’s not like the Keynesians ever let reality constrain their imaginations anyway.

Still, we’re in the sad position now of having a President who isn’t as free-spending as Europe.

Monday, May 24, 2010

I have been busier than a one legged man at an ass-kicking contest the last month or so, and have not posed much, but today I have finally gotten some slow time and decided it was time to get back at it. And I think the appropriate place to start is with the current economic crisis gripping the world, and closer at home, this whole government healthcare takeover thingy, better know as Obamacare. Since everyone but the usual bureaucrats seem to understand the budgetary problems facing the great Western socialist paradises on the verge of economic collapse are caused because the parasites “working” in government have had a great run for the last few decades buying themselves both power and bennies with other people’s money, and are discussing the fact that we can’t keep spending at the rate we are, it should be obvious that this massive government expansion would remain unpopular and continue to get more unpopular as people realize the economic impacts associated with it. In fact, the numbers for those of us wanting it repealed, have climbed to 63%, and they are just going to keep going up as even the CBO now has to admit. I am sure the democrats are quite surprised that it now looks like Obamacare will not save us anything but actually cost more. And that is with a shameful slight of hand/scam used by those promoting this most massive government expansion since the first day of the Roosevelt socialist takeover, that allows the government to collect taxes for 10 years, but then only offer services for the last 5 or 6 years in a 10 year cycle. As I have pointed out repeatedly, it should be blatantly obvious that there is no arguing that even if the program doesn’t end up as I suspect it will deep in the red in the first decade, come the next 10 year cycle, the program is going to be short a trillion or more from the start.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

As you may know, Britain is currently under an unlikely coalition of Tories and Liberal Democrats.  I have been cautiously optimistic about this unusual alliance.  I think the combination could produce some good things for Britain.

Looks like I was right:

The U.K.’s new government plans to detail about £6 billion ($8.69 billion) in immediate budget cuts Monday as the finance minister, George Osborne, begins to flesh out how the U.K. treasury will narrow the £156 billion budget deficit.

Mr. Osborne is expected to announce plans that would save about £513 million from a cull of nondepartmental executive agencies, and £163 million from restraining public-sector hiring via a recruitment freeze, according to a person familiar with the situation. In addition, he is set to announce cuts of more than £1 billion in discretionary spending, including savings from cutting travel costs and consultancy fees. He would also seek efficiencies in continuing programs.

That’s six billion right away.  The real test will come when the Brits have to cut government employees and social services.  But, in a week, they’ve already cut six billion more than Obama has in a year and a half.

There’s more.  Nick Clegg, now deputy PM, and with the backing of the Tories, has stated they will start ripping down some of the surveillance state in Britain, investigate allegations of torture, put in place a massive electoral overhaul and roll back the excesses of the criminal justice system.  Read this:

It is outrageous that decent, law-abiding people are regularly treated as if they have something to hide.

It has to stop.

So there will be no ID card scheme.

No national identity register, no second-generation biometric passports.

We won’t hold your internet and email records when there is no just reason to do so.

CCTV will be properly regulated, as will the DNA database, with restrictions on the storage of innocent people’s DNA.

And we will end practices that risk making Britain a place where our children grow up so used to their liberty being infringed that they accept it without question.

This is inspiring stuff, guys.  It’s not just words; it’s their official platform.

Now this is still a British government, so there are no plans to dismantle the NHS or anything.  But it looks like the UK is about to take a huge step in the right direction.  And this is, in no small part, because they had to form a coalition of two parties.  This allow real ideas to move forward, while giving both parties political cover. It makes you wonder what might happen if the Libertarians ever got their heads out of their asses and became a viable third party.

In the meantime, our Candidate of Change is comfortable with the War on Drugs, sees no need to reform the criminal justice system, is arguing in court that he can disappear people in Bagram and had a fit because the Supreme Court lifted restriction on corporate speech.  In short, as Radley Balko noted, Obama is keeping every promise he made when it comes to taking away our freedom.  He is keeping none of the ones that involve giving it back.

Look at the Cameron-Clegg partnership. Look at Obama.  Who is the force for real change?

Friday, May 07, 2010

It looks like the election in Britain, while giving a clear plurality to the Tories, is not going to give them the majority they need to take control of parliament.

I haven’t commented on the UK election but I’ve been following it closely.  My sympathies, naturally, are with the Tories and I’m glad to see Labour get their asses handed to them.  What has struck me, even today, is how arrogant Gordon Brown is.  Even after getting hammered last night, he’s babbling about forming a coalition with the LIb Dems to maintain his spectacularly incompetent rule.  That’s his privilege as sitting PM but I’m hoping the Liberal Democrats are not quite that stupid.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

I don’t think I’ve ever done a “If Bush Was President When This Happened” post, but this is one of those rare times when a confluence of events occur which compels such an observation.

Within the span of two weeks, we’ve had:

an environmental catastrophe on the Gulf Coast;

protests for civil liberties combined with ethnic tribalism in response to Arizona’s new illegal immigration law, in conjunction with a proposal for a national biometric ID card;

massive flooding in Tennessee that’s left at least 29 people dead;

a car-bombing attempt in Times Square that only failed because the terrorist was too incompetent to wire the explosives correctly;

a potential global financial meltdown in the making;

the stock market boomerang 600 points and back in the span of 30 minutes;

and the death of a bill to audit the Fed in the Senate.

Now just imagine that Bush was President if these things happened all at once.  I think it’s beyond dispute that Kos, Matthew Yglesias, John Cole, Paul Krugman, and every other leftist hack would be calling for impeachment, investigations, and frog-marches of everyone and anyone connected with the administration if all these things happened at once (and Republican shills would be finding endless excuses for all these things, too).  The media would be wall-to-wall with stories asking “why doesn’t the President DO SOMETHING about this?”

Does anyone honestly believe that if Obama was a Republican, he wouldn’t be getting hammered about all this, even in the situations that are largely beyond his control?  For god’s sake, the US just participated in the bailout of Greece through its 17% stake in the IMF--what would Senator Obama have said in a situation where the American taxpayer became partially responsible for bailing out foreign banks?

Yes, that last question is rhetorical.

There’s little point in having a federal government structure in place that isn’t safeguarding the interests of its citizens or taking responsibilty for the powers granted it by the Constitution.  Obama said during his inauguration speech that government needs to work better for its people, but he’s shown during his time in office that he is largely incapable of showing the kind of leadership people expect when the shit hits the fan. 

The truly pathetic aspect of all this?  The Stupid Party doesn’t really have anyone that could do appreciably better.  This is the end game that the offal of the post-WW2 generations has produced for us.

Greece seems to determined to bite the hand that is feeding them.  The rest of the EU is tightening their belts to try to keep Greece from completely collapsing under their debt.  The condition on this bailout is that they have to, you know, get their fucking house in order.  The results has been an explosion of protests and violence that have now left three dead on the eve of the austerity vote.  More protests are planned for today.

I have no idea of the macroeconomic implications.  But if I were a resident of Germany of France, I’d be very tempted to just cut Greece lose.  Let them spiral down into debt and inflation if that’s what they want.  It’s quite clear that decades of generous government benefits have spoiled her people rotten and given them the illusion that money grows on trees.  If this austerity package is rejected, then let them eat baklava.

Update: Michael Moynihan draws the obvious comparison.  Violent and deadly protests in Greece are regarded as more legitimate than peaceful protests here.  Moynihan clearly does not understand the morality in play.  Anything is acceptable when you’re protesting in favor of more government; nothing is acceptable when you’re protesting against it.

Update: Read this article about just how bad things are.  Hairdressers in Greece can retire at 50.  Because their job is “hazardous”.  Also check out the infographic on the left.  See how many countries have obligations that are anywhere from 3 to 15 times their GDP.

There’s a generational war coming.  And I feel like the Baby Boomers are going to screw us all.  Again.

Friday, April 23, 2010

On the same week when one of their most overspent countries is teetering on the brink of complete fiscal collapse owing to over-generous government employee benefits, the EU is closing in on securing humanity’s newest “right”.

AN overseas holiday used to be thought of as a reward for a year’s hard work. Now Brussels has declared that tourism is a human right and pensioners, youths and those too poor to afford it should have their travel subsidised by the taxpayer.

Under the scheme, British pensioners could be given cut-price trips to Spain, while Greek teenagers could be taken around disused mills in Manchester to experience the cultural diversity of Europe.

The idea for the subsidised tours is the brainchild of Antonio Tajani, the European Union commissioner for enterprise and industry, who was appointed by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister.

The scheme, which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds a year, is intended to promote a sense of pride in European culture, bridge the north-south divide in the continent and prop up resorts in their off-season.

The man literally claims that tourism is a right.  But let’s not give him too much credit by assuming he’s an idiotic idealist. Tajani is a product of one of the most comically corrupt governments in the Western world—that of Silvio Berlusconi.  This declaration is mostly an excuse for governments to subsidize the tourists industry.  Getting people on their vacations is a side effect of that funneling of taxpayer cash.

I think the EU should solve both their problems at once.  Send all the young people and pensioners to Greece so that they can tour and simultaneously see the massive economic collapse that awaits all social welfare states.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Don’t know if you caught the latest update on Loud British Sex Woman:

Nightmare neighbour Caroline Cartwright who was given a sex Asbo to prevent noisy sessions has been arrested after failing to keep the lid on her lovemaking.

Mrs Cartwright avoided jail in January when a judge at Newcastle Crown Court handed her a suspended prison sentence after she was caught breaching a four-year Asbo which bans her from having loud sex sessions.

But two months after her court case Caroline, of Hall Road, Washington, is said to be at it again and has been arrested by police and hauled before magistrates.

The 49-year-old has now been thrown back into a bail hostel to keep her and husband Steve apart while the courts decide what to do next.

I would suggest reading the article but it has a picture of Noisy Sex Woman and ... well, you don’t want to think about that.  But, according to her, they moved the bed downstairs, had sex for ten minutes and the neighbors called the cops.  They used to have sex for two hours a day.

A few random thoughts:

1) Maybe I’m reaching here, but it sounds like the neighbors had their ears pressed to the wall, waiting to here these people go at it.  The occasional ten minutes of sex, even noisy sex, doesn’t sound too bad to me.  When I lived in apartments, I had neighbors I would gladly trade in for that.

2) Maybe I’m stereotyping.  Or just jealous.  But if these people were having two hour sex marathons every day, I’m guessing they were not the most employed people in the world.  So we’re seeing both sides of the Nanny State at work here.

3) I have a solution to this problem: move these people to America.  Here they will get all the free healthcare and subsidized housing the want, but with none of encroachment of judges.  The worst that will happen is the occasional YouTube upload.

In fact, that should be our motto to encourage immigration: America.  All of the welfare.  None of the Asbos.

Update: In other British Sex News, an airport worker is in trouble for using one of the new scanning machines to take a gander at his busty co-worker’s assets.  The abuse of these machines is something that I’m sure no one could have foreseen, of course.

Thursday, March 04, 2010

With a caveat that the sequel is rarely as good as the original....

I wanted to follow up on Hal’s post from a couple of days ago on the financial turmoil that’s been going on in Greece.  This has been an object of somewhat obsessive attention over at Zerohedge the past few weeks, and the focus has largely been on the similarities between this and what happened when TARP was being debated.  While I can certainly see this as applied to a continental rather than national scale, I think the implications here are far greater.

In my opinion, what is going on in Greece marks it as a bellwether on the survivability of the EU in the short-term, and the welfare state in the long-term. The EU has two choices--1) come up with some sort of bailout plan for a member nation who, economically speaking, is something of a red-headed stepchild due to its lack of economic diversity (most jobs in Greece are in government or tourism); or 2) tell them “Sorry, we can’t throw good money after bad,” and Greece ends up leaving the EU to go back to a vastly devalued Drachma.

If the EU picks the first option, it’s going to open the floodgates.  Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland are all in way over their heads in government debt, with France, the UK, and Germany not too far behind.  It will be impossible for the more stable members of the EU to justify denying bailouts to the the other PIIGS, when they spent all this time agonizing over how to fix the problem and came up with a bailout as the way to fix things.  The “austerity measures” put in by Greece are a joke, because it doesn’t change the fundamental culture of entitlement that’s infected the populace, so they’ll likely end up having to come back to the trough again in a year or so begging for more.

If the second option is chosen, what motivation would Greece or the other PIIGS have to stay in the EU?  The whole idea behind the EU was to create an economic superpower that could compete with the US and Russia for global trade.  If the EU won’t prop up a member of its own economic alliance, why should Italy or Spain or Portugal bother staying in?  Better to just cut loose and try to figure things out on their own without subjecting the country’s citizens to endless agonizing uncertainty on the economic direction of the nation.

Either way, count on what happens with Greece to eventually filter over to the United States at some point.  As Hal pointed out, Greece’s welfare state, like most European nations, is quite robust and the populace has come to depend on entitlement programs--specifically, the national pension system--as their means of survival.  In the same way, Social Security, Medicare, and pension systems here in the US are seen as necessary by most Americans--an entitlement that comes with putting money into a system and expecting financial compensation at a later date.  The problem is that these programs have finally reached the breaking point of sustainability.

Why?  Check out these graphs, the first from Zerohedge and the second from Mish:

Friday, February 26, 2010

I did not watch that 7+ hour freakshow that the democrats were hoping to use as a vehicle to paint the republicans as evil “no sayers” with no ideas or plans on healthcare with the help of the usual suspects in their controlled MSM – while anyone that had the ability to navigate a web browser and Google could see these donkeys were full of it – and I am glad I didn’t waste my time. The democrats pretended to care and to want bipartisanship, only they meant by bipartisanship that the republicans should do what they wanted and be happy about it. The leftist twits are now threatening reconciliation – a process that has never been used in the way they intend to abuse it, but we are talking about the party of the end justifies the means after all here – despite the public objection to this debacle. It is now or never and all or nothing with these fools. And they are continuing to pretend that they are doing it to help the country and the people economically, while also providing care to all those poor people that can’t afford it. How noble, but al bullshit. The end game still is to have government literally take over and control 1/5th of our economy. Not to mention get the power over life and death decisions. Fun stuff, but I want to talk about the cost to us tax payers.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Ever getting more desperate to lay blame on everything but the failures of the collectivist ideology and the stupidity of those that actually think they can make the wealth redistribution scheme work, we now have Zapatero in Spain -another one of the collectivist hell-holes in Europe that after the Madrid bombing took a turn for the worst, abandoned the changes instituted by the previous administration to reverse the damage done by dumb collectivist economics, and destroyed its economy in the process - blaming, hold your horses cause this is a doozy, the Anglo-Saxon media?

Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has ordered Spain’s official intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Center (CNI), to investigate whether the “Anglo-Saxon media” (aka English-language press) is conspiring to undermine the Spanish economy. According to the center-left newspaper El País, which is close to the Zapatero government, the CNI is investigating “whether attacks by investors and the aggressiveness of some Anglo-Saxon media are being driven by market forces and challenges facing the Spanish economy, or whether there is something more behind this campaign.” In recent weeks, the UK-based Financial Times newspaper and the Economist magazine, as well as some publications in the United States, have all published stories that have been highly critical of the economic policies being pursued by the Zapatero government.

Let me get this straight. The Spanish PM has sicked the Spanish intelligence service on the Anglo-Saxon media, in particular the financial media, for having the temerity to point out that the Spanish economy is a basket case due to the collectivist policies that simply are unsustainable? Where are the calls of fascism from the left on this? Cause you can’t get more fascist than concocting a phony conspiracy for the reason your economic practices fail and then using the power of the state to make it look like you actually have a case. I am sure the Spanish are now all feeling better that their PM has figured out who to go after while the unsustainable collectivist house of cards implodes around them. If you dig a little deeper though you find out what the problem really is.

Spain now faces the prospect of a downgrade of its government debt, which would make it more expensive for Spain to finance its debt. Indeed, investors anxious that a debt crisis in Greece could create a domino effect in Spain are already demanding higher interest rates to hold Spanish debt. As a result, the Zapatero government is working overtime to try to reassure debt markets that it will quickly return to fiscal prudence

We once talked about the domino effect when addressing the expansion of collectivism in the form of communism. The left hated that then, and has done its best to discredit the idea, or the danger posed by said communist expansion. The bad guy was always the west for fighting it. Communism was no threat at all! It is hilarious, at least to me, that we are now seeing a similar terminology applied to the collapse of another collectivist ideology that has crippled the western world. If man would but learn the lesson that stealing from those that produce to buy privilege and power through the redistribution of the ill gotten gains, all under the guise of helping the less well off, is a recipe for disaster, we would have a chance. Of course, with the left hell bent on doing the damage no matter the resistance, we might just be doomed no matter what. Maybe Obama can blame the economic implosion he is presiding over on Bush too....

Thursday, February 18, 2010

I can’t believe the many levels of irony wrapped up in the Greek anger at the German refusal to bail the m out. Literally class warfare at its best! The poor Greek are now angry at the rich and well off Germans for not feeling obligated to save them from decades of their own mistakes, mismanagement, and misfortunes. And this is going on in collectivist Europe! Greece is broke, but because it is part of the EU, it can’t simply use the old standby of the pre EU days, and devalue its currency. So the other EU states demanded austerity measures. Germany’s leaders which just recently upped the retirement age from 65 to 67, in large part to address the unsustainable costs of the nanny state and the looming fiscal disaster, simply decided that handing the Greeks, whom can retire at 61 and were refusing to even go along and only promising (one that they would not keep I bet) to do something around 2015 by going to the hard age of 63, a wad of cash was not going to be well received by the German voters, and decided to put their foot down. And that pissed of the Greeks.

The Greeks feel that the greedy damned Germans don’t want to do their civic duty and pony up cash. Conversely the Germans are pissed that the lazy Greeks just want to make them pay for their sweet life. You have the Greeks – whom aren’t very well known for any kind of work ethic and love to party – angry at the Germans for not wanting to subsidize their ride. Where have we seen this before? I mean, is this hilarity or what? This kind of economic model was doomed from the start, but the evil ones are the ones that do not feel obligated to part with the fruits of their labor for whatever sad story the other side wants to use to keep the cushy life. If we were not heading the same way, this would be classic comedy. As for the future of the EU? My guess is the Euro goes bye-bye soonish. The Greeks are not interested in changing the way things are. The better off Euroepean countries are drawing the line because if they do this for Greece now they will have to do it for Portugal, Spain, Ireland, maybe Italy, and sooner than later Greece again. The end result is the same though: sooner than later the golden goose dies off, or cuts off the parasites feasting on it.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Just after one year of “Hope and Change” it looks like people are wising up that they got sold the same bill of loser collectivist goods of the Carter years, and pining for those bad days they told us we had when republicans were in charge. As reality clashes with fantasy and things like this, this, this, this, this, this, and this keep happening, the democrats continue to pretend that what people want is bigger government, a complete takeover of healthcare - 1/5th of the economy - by that big government, and a massive migration from jobs in the private sector to a fraction of the number of jobs lost there in the public sector. And that doesn’t tackle the complete collapse of the AGW scam which wanted to expand the government take over globally and other such stupid ideas. At least Clinton was smart enough to be saved by a republican takeover of congress in 2004. I doubt Obama, a true believer, will be able to make the same connections. After all, he was told he was the messiah and could walk on water.

As I said before, a few years of the democrats in power would be enough to make many see the light. I just didn’t think it could take but one year for that to happen. I could not believe that the democrats were really this inept and stupid, but they are hard at work proving me both right and wrong. Democrats are good at manipulating the news, with help of the complicit MSM, to attack their opponents when they are in power. Unfortunately now that they are in power, even with massive help covering up for them by the MSM, they can’t hide how inept they are. Reality has a way of destroying most collectivist fantasies, and what is happening isn’t anything new. The fun thing is that I get to bring out my latest find, a poster on some highway in the Mid West that tells the story better than anything else:

Give it time. The numbers are getting bigger and bigger, and all but the most hard core leftists are agreeing that for all his faults, and he had them believe me, Bush was heads and shoulders a better president than the current community organizer in chief….

Saturday, January 23, 2010

About time too:

The director of a company which sold a bomb-detecting device to 20 countries, including Iraq, has been arrested.

ATSC’s Jim McCormick, 53, was detained on Friday on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation, Avon and Somerset police said. He has since been bailed.

It comes after a BBC investigation alleged the ADE-651 did not work.

Earlier, the British government announced a ban on the export of the device to Iraq and Afghanistan, where British forces are serving.

...

Mr McCormick has said the device, sold from offices in Sparkford, Somerset, used special electronic cards slotted into it to detect explosives.

But a BBC Newsnight investigation reported that a computer laboratory said the card it examined contained only a tag used by shops to prevent theft.

There are concerns the detectors have failed to stop bomb attacks which have killed hundreds of people.

This device is essentially a dowsing rod and is a complete sham.  But because it’s cheap and well-marketed, Iraqi police stocked up on them.  But this particular brand of bullshit was killing people.  It’s estimated that over a hundred people were dying every month because of this piece of claptrap.

Fraud and misrepresentation seem a bit weak for this.  I would suggest treason.  Stick his head on a pike in front of Buckingham as a warning to other pseudoscience frauds.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

No matter how bad things get in this country, we can comfort ourselves with the words everyone has used since the Battle of Alesia: at least we’re not France:

If you insult your wife or husband repeatedly, you could soon find yourself in court if you live in France.

The charge? Psychological violence.

That’s what the new offence will be called if a bill backed by the government is passed by parliament.

Once considered a purely private domain, rows between married or cohabiting couples could now prompt intervention from the state.

The French government wants to take the controversial step of introducing a new law banning “psychological violence” between married couples or partners living together.

I’m not going to defend people who are verbally abusive toward anyone.  I’ve know women (and men) in abusive relationships and have little but contempt for the perpetrators.  They illustrate it with a story of a man who was vile to his wife.  I knew a similar case where a man’s constant harassing of his girlfriend on the subject of her weight made her anorexic.

But I am going to go out on a limb and ask government how it judges these things, how it proves them and how it justifies fining or jailing or someone because of it.  This seems to be a law against being mean.  With my aforementioned friend, I don’t think the cops would have helped.  What ultimately prevailed was her friends getting her to dump the motherfucker.

There’s also the problem that abuse is in the eye of the abusee.  I know people who go to pieces over the slightly bit of criticism.  And I know people who can weather the most vile slanders without a problem.  These sort of laws wind up going into problematic gray areas that criminal law should avoid.  One of the reasons we can outlaw physical abuse is because we can define it for every case.  Verbal abuse ... not so much.

Lawyer Laurent Hincker, a fervent supporter of the bill, said it would not be the only crime on the books that is difficult to prove.

“There are other crimes which are also hard to prove, such as bullying or harassment in the workplace,” he said.

“For a long time people said you can’t have a law against bullying because it’s too difficult to prove, but now there is a law and people get convicted.”

Bullying shouldn’t be against the law either, but that’s a subject for another post.  Notice, however, the eternal creep of the Nanny State.  And remember that there are many people in this country who wants laws against bullying.

I also like the “we know when we see it” evidentiary standard given by the psychiatric profession for how this sort of violence can be proven in court.  In short, the French want to put shrinks in charge of the justice system.

Yeah, that’s going to work out just great.