Greece represents the ultimate end for the progressive liberal ideal.
40% of the workforce in Greece is employed by the government. 40%!!! The remaining 60% are comprised more or less equally by three groups:
1. Union members
2. Family businesses
3. Immigrants
Immigrants do the work other Greeks are apparently not willing to do. Sound familiar? They also pay almost no taxes, but qualify for available services, so they are a net drag on the state budget. The same is true for the family businesses, which are ripe with cronyism, and since the families penetrate deep into the weave of government, tax evasion is rampant. Finally, unions always push for more pay and benefits while also striving for less productivity from workers.
The massive public sector has seen the average pay for its workers double in the last 15 years, and of course they're all unionized, too, so good luck reversing that trend. So what has been the Greek solution? Tax the private sector more, which won't work because of cronyism, and "freeze" pay increases for public sector workers. That can't help either since they can't afford to pay what people are already making.
You would think that given the incredibly dire situation Greece is in that its people would be willing to make sacrifices in order to get things under control, but in fact the opposite is true. Public support for the minimal measures being proposed is almost zero, and the unions are staging violent protests across the country.
The obvious problem with the reform is that Greeks are so brainwashed by the big government/entitlement mentality that they cannot see the forest through the trees.
Given all these factors, the Greek economy truly has no chance. And yet, this is exactly what Bama and Democrats are striving for here in America. Germany, one of the few stable EU economies, stands to lose the most in bailing out Greece, and has actually suggested Greece sell several of its islands as collateral on the bailout package. Greece, instead of actually owning up to its failures, has instead raised the spectre of the Nazis, saying perhaps Germany needs to finally pay reparations for the costs of WWII.
Its scary to think that this is exactly the road liberals in this country want desperately to take us down. Maybe we can sell Alaska back to the Russians some day and get a bailout in return.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Truth is Only a Minor Obstacle
The Feds announced today that they will be selling 1.5 million shares of Citibank stock - at a profit! This is supposed to be good news, proving what a good investment it was to bailout the banks in 2008.
But wait! Government doesn't make money (it prints it, but the value of that currency is backed by American's productivity) - it takes it from taxpayers. So really, you and me and everyone who pays taxes bought that stock. I don't remember the government asking my permission to sell those shares. What gives? Who's regulating those crooks? But then they didn't ask my permission to buy the shares in the first place with my money. And because it would be unprecedented for that money to actually go back to taxpayers, or even just be taken out of circulation, anyone who has paid any taxes to the US government who then also buys one of these Citi shares is essentially paying for it twice. That's a bad deal for everyone except Democrat politicians, who first gleefully endorsed the creation of $800 Billion to bailout the banks, then spent every dime that was repaid, and now stand to generate even more revenue from this stock sale. All of which will go to fund more liberal crap like Health Care reform.
Speaking of which, the thing I've been screaming for nearly a year now - that adding another bureaucratic layer the existing health care process can ONLY result in higher costs for all - has been proven true by the bean counters at the Medicare administration. In fact, they sent a report saying as much to Kathleen "Blinders" Sibelius a week before the vote, but she didn't want to read it for fear the truth might "influence the vote." Damn right! It's all a scam though - everyone with an ounce of common sense could figure costs will go up, and they all lied about it, starting with Bama. Think we'll get a congressional investigation into that? Hell no! Instead we're getting another bill that will enable government overseers the power to fine or in other ways damage private insurance companies who, through no fault of their own, are straddled with huge new cost burdens and are forced to raise premiums to compensate.
Bama and the Dems knew this would happen, and they already had this planned - bank on it. This is all part of the same effort to put private insurers out of business in favor of the government option. It's coming...
But wait! Government doesn't make money (it prints it, but the value of that currency is backed by American's productivity) - it takes it from taxpayers. So really, you and me and everyone who pays taxes bought that stock. I don't remember the government asking my permission to sell those shares. What gives? Who's regulating those crooks? But then they didn't ask my permission to buy the shares in the first place with my money. And because it would be unprecedented for that money to actually go back to taxpayers, or even just be taken out of circulation, anyone who has paid any taxes to the US government who then also buys one of these Citi shares is essentially paying for it twice. That's a bad deal for everyone except Democrat politicians, who first gleefully endorsed the creation of $800 Billion to bailout the banks, then spent every dime that was repaid, and now stand to generate even more revenue from this stock sale. All of which will go to fund more liberal crap like Health Care reform.
Speaking of which, the thing I've been screaming for nearly a year now - that adding another bureaucratic layer the existing health care process can ONLY result in higher costs for all - has been proven true by the bean counters at the Medicare administration. In fact, they sent a report saying as much to Kathleen "Blinders" Sibelius a week before the vote, but she didn't want to read it for fear the truth might "influence the vote." Damn right! It's all a scam though - everyone with an ounce of common sense could figure costs will go up, and they all lied about it, starting with Bama. Think we'll get a congressional investigation into that? Hell no! Instead we're getting another bill that will enable government overseers the power to fine or in other ways damage private insurance companies who, through no fault of their own, are straddled with huge new cost burdens and are forced to raise premiums to compensate.
Bama and the Dems knew this would happen, and they already had this planned - bank on it. This is all part of the same effort to put private insurers out of business in favor of the government option. It's coming...
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The Government Taketh Away
Bama and the Dems are now pushing their "Regulatory Reform" proposal, which currently includes a "Bank Tax" of $90 Billion to cover the remaining TARP expenditure. JP Morgan president Jamie Dimon did something the government could not counter - he told the truth, saying that this tax would get passed onto consumers. Everybody who knows anything about capitalism knows this is how it always works, but we rarely hear it admitted. Now Democrats are backing off.
But some, like Dickhead Durbin of Illinois are still pushing for it, and so is Bama. If it goes through, you, as an American Taxpayer, will already be on the hook for the first $90 Billion, and you're still on the hook for it, because even though it gets repaid it has already been earmarked for future spending, like the Jobs Bill. You'll also be on the hook as an American consumer for another $90 Billion to cover the hike in service fees passed down by banks that get taxed. So all of a sudden you've just spent 180 Billion dollars. Under President Bush' TARP proposal you were to be reimbursed with interest, but under Bara Bama you get screwed. This is exactly why we continue to see no net increase in jobs relative to population, and why we're unlikely to as long as Dems control government; Bama and the rest of these clowns continue to heap more and more financial burden on everyone while they pursue their liberal political agenda.
But some, like Dickhead Durbin of Illinois are still pushing for it, and so is Bama. If it goes through, you, as an American Taxpayer, will already be on the hook for the first $90 Billion, and you're still on the hook for it, because even though it gets repaid it has already been earmarked for future spending, like the Jobs Bill. You'll also be on the hook as an American consumer for another $90 Billion to cover the hike in service fees passed down by banks that get taxed. So all of a sudden you've just spent 180 Billion dollars. Under President Bush' TARP proposal you were to be reimbursed with interest, but under Bara Bama you get screwed. This is exactly why we continue to see no net increase in jobs relative to population, and why we're unlikely to as long as Dems control government; Bama and the rest of these clowns continue to heap more and more financial burden on everyone while they pursue their liberal political agenda.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Betting It All On Black
The networks are in a full-court press to repair the damage Bama's done to his credibility with the public. NBC went so far as to revive the Somali Pirates story from last year for their Sunday night edition of Dateline with the teaser something like, "The President takes on the Pirates..." And there was even a sit down interview, made to appear as if this whole event with the American hostages had just happened. It's like they're pretending all the animosity Bama and Democrats have incurred never happened. Actually, they have everything to lose when he fails; the media is ultimately responsible for Bara Bama having been elected, so his failures are their failures.
Anyway, as a service to America, because almost nobody bothered to watch it, I transcribed part of the interview:
NBC: "Were you nervous before you made that shot to save the captain?"
BO: "That's a common misconception, but I didn't actually pull the trigger."
NBC: "But you were there, on the Navy ship, and your personally authorized the action."
BO: "I wasn't on the ship, but I was following closely at the White House."
NBC: "I see, so you were talking to the sniper team and that's when you assessed the situation and ordered the shot and saved the captain."
BO: "Not exactly. but I did give the order to carry out the operation."
NBC: "Obviously you made a difficult decision. I would say a brave decision."
BO: "It was the right thing to do, not only for the freighter captain but for American interests in the region and for all free trade."
NBC: "Right, but your predecessor did nothing to stop the situation from getting to this point."
BO: "Well I'm the President now, and we do things my way now."
Objective journalism at its best. Meanwhile, Bama's out on his Sell Health Care to America Tour, just another extension of his never-ending election campaign, and someone dared to say Americans are "over-taxed". During the following 17 minutes, Bama managed to obfuscate in his rhetorical way, confusing and boring everyone in attendance, and finishing with, "I hope I answered your question," even though he knew he didn't. But then, that's the thing with the word hope - it's pretty useless, just like our Campaigner-In-Chief.
Anyway, as a service to America, because almost nobody bothered to watch it, I transcribed part of the interview:
NBC: "Were you nervous before you made that shot to save the captain?"
BO: "That's a common misconception, but I didn't actually pull the trigger."
NBC: "But you were there, on the Navy ship, and your personally authorized the action."
BO: "I wasn't on the ship, but I was following closely at the White House."
NBC: "I see, so you were talking to the sniper team and that's when you assessed the situation and ordered the shot and saved the captain."
BO: "Not exactly. but I did give the order to carry out the operation."
NBC: "Obviously you made a difficult decision. I would say a brave decision."
BO: "It was the right thing to do, not only for the freighter captain but for American interests in the region and for all free trade."
NBC: "Right, but your predecessor did nothing to stop the situation from getting to this point."
BO: "Well I'm the President now, and we do things my way now."
Objective journalism at its best. Meanwhile, Bama's out on his Sell Health Care to America Tour, just another extension of his never-ending election campaign, and someone dared to say Americans are "over-taxed". During the following 17 minutes, Bama managed to obfuscate in his rhetorical way, confusing and boring everyone in attendance, and finishing with, "I hope I answered your question," even though he knew he didn't. But then, that's the thing with the word hope - it's pretty useless, just like our Campaigner-In-Chief.
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