Spent much of the day reading the European press. For once, almost universally across the political spectrum of the Old Continent, we see agreement that Greece is in serious trouble (Note: It takes Europeans a little longer to recognize reality--it's akin to having a continent full of John Edwards supporters); the Euro is in serious trouble; and the EU is in serious trouble. In some corners, mostly British (they grasp reality more quickly than do the folk across the Channel), there is an understanding that the whole "European experiment" was madness on steroids, fueled by envy and resentment of the United States, and hatred for "Anglo-Saxon" dominance. The crowning achievement of this madness was the golden amulet of the Euro, the magical coin that would challenge the dollar and become the world's new reserve currency. For a while it looked as if that might happen, but it has become apparent that the Euro's "strength" was based on two pillars: German productivity and compliance with the desires of "Europe;" and outright chicanery in bookkeeping. The books were cooked, and every politician knew it. What the Euro accomplished was to make unproductive and spendthrift Greece as expensive as productive and thrifty Germany. A formula for disaster.
The Greek politicians and their electorate refuse to acknowledge that they do not deserve the Euro. They have not earned it. The only solution for the smelly mess in which the Greeks now find themselves is for Greece to drop the Euro. That will not be easy; in fact, that will be a horrendous process, and I just do not know whether Greece and the EU can execute that extrication. If it does not happen, however, there is no hope for Greece, unless Germany will continue to pay and pay and pay, and watch as Spain, Portugal, and Italy line up for their hand-outs, as well. The Euro, as we know it, is dead; the final nail in its coffin is the French electoral result which highlights the continuing refusal of politicians to speak the truth to the voters.
California is the Greece of the American Union, also brought to ruin by deranged, delusional leftist politics and economic prescriptions. Just today Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown announced that--oops!--the budget shortfall for the state's government will not be the previously announced and disastrous $9 billion. It will be a monstrous and lethal $16 billion--and who knows if it isn't bigger? The Governor has announced that the people of California must approve even higher taxes on income and sales in order to avoid major cuts in public services. As usual the politicians announce that police, fire, ambulance, and hospital services will be hard hit along with education. Nothing about the billions of dollars spent on peripheral nonsense, including public services for millions of illegal aliens. As you could have foretold, the public workers are preparing strikes, and at some universities the brilliant professors are already marching with signs reading"We Teach the 99%" and shouting their usual inane slogans.
It is time for California to leave the dollar. Let's allow the world's 6th largest economy--supposedly--to issue its own script. The new currency could be called the "Clooney," or the "Streisand." Let the FOREX market determine its value . . .
The left destroys the world . . .
Well put. I look forward to higher taxes in CA and the resulting departure of productive citizens. Gov. Brown is on a downward spiral won't acknowledge that every action he takes to squeeze more from productive Californians will result in fewer and fewer of them. CA has always prided itself on being the bellweather of the United States. It certainly appears to be the bellweather of American Socialism. How low do they need to sink to learn their lesson?
ReplyDeleteTrust me, CA voters need to sink even lower. In Silicon Valley, I see numerous Obummer 2012 bumber stickers, I even see cars with old Kerry-Edwards stickers. Moonbeam should start with the hundreds of regulatory and oversight boards which serve as resting places for booted or retired politicians. Each has a staff and probably runs about $750k or more per year. A drop in the bucket but it would indicate that he has a clue. Oh wait, we're talking about Moonbeam here, forget it.
ReplyDeleteAny comment on a movement afoot to rename the major river draining the Klamath range southward after the world's longest river, the Nile? Doing so would allow the state capitol to be appropriately renamed and thus justify our brilliant legislators continuing dribbling out their terms in "de-Nile".
ReplyDeleteSome say one of the key legislative efforts awaiting completion in the state capitol is dropping the slogan "Eureka" from our seal and adopting a replacement state motto, "Ediwkse", which though a tongue-twister, loosely transliterates to "We Drove It Away".
This post is terrific, developments not.
ReplyDeleteGiven progressive decline, why don't voters decline Progressives?
"It is time for California to leave the dollar. "Absolutely! Work is even now underway to create a completely California-based currency derived from the "Moonbeam". Predicated on the gross annual market value of the Raisin crop grown in the Central Valley in 2010, and printed on selected security-threaded lettuce leaves impregnated with tofu and pistachio hulls, the pink and teal tinted currency features an image that some say is its governor-for-life, E.G.(Pat)Brown,Jr., but others claim resembles a pre-adolescent Nancy Pelosi.
ReplyDelete