Among the issues most commonly discussed are individuality, the rights of the individual, the limits of legitimate government, morality, history, economics, government policy, science, business, education, health care, energy, and man-made global warming evaluations. My posts are aimed at intelligent and rational individuals, whose comments are very welcome.

"No matter how vast your knowledge or how modest, it is your own mind that has to acquire it." Ayn Rand

"Observe that the 'haves' are those who have freedom, and that it is freedom that the 'have-nots' have not." Ayn Rand

"The virtue involved in helping those one loves is not 'selflessness' or 'sacrifice', but integrity." Ayn Rand

For "a human being, the question 'to be or not to be,' is the question 'to think or not to think.'" Ayn Rand

16 May 2010

Ragnar, Sink that Relief Ship Going to Greece!

With our national debt of nearly $13 trillion, huge shortfalls looming for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, certain losses on GM, Chrysler, and many lending institutions, further losses for Ginny Mae and Freddy Mac, large losses for AMTRAK and the Postal Service, bailouts for many underfunded union retirement funds, and looming bailouts for U.S. states such as California, New York, and Rhode Island, the U.S. has recently guaranteed $56 billion of loans to Socialist Greece through our involvement with the IMF.

The loan guarantees to Greece are expected to be insufficient to save the Greek government from insolvency.  The Greek economy is only about 2% of the GDP of the European Union, but its insolvency has been a major threat to the weak economies throughout the EU.  About one-third of all workers in Greece work for the government.  They have retirement for hazardous occupations at age 58 and for women at age 50.  The hazardous occupations include musicians, news announcers, and hairdressers.  Greece worked its way into this insolvency by flouting the EU's rules on deficit spending and misrepresenting their indebtedness.  This was long recognized, but the EU did not enforce its rules, which have been widely violated in other nations in the EU also.  Portugal appears also to be on the verge of collapse.  Spain, with its wildly profligate spending on alternative energy, among many other popular socialist programs, is not far behind.  Italy and Ireland are also in sad shape and even the United Kingdom is in worse shape than the U.S.  We are likely to be expected to bailout all these countries whose socialist policies have brought them to the brink of failure through our contributions to the IMF.

The U.S. itself is near the brink of failure, if not quite as close as Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.  This is because the Progressives have so long worked so hard and so successfully to transform the U.S. into their European ideal of a socialist state.  We are now driving ourselves even faster into irrecoverable insolvency by sending relief ship after relief ship to Europe.  Where are you Ragnar?  You are needed.

Real life is working very hard at replicating Ayn Rand's great novel Atlas Shrugged.

6 comments:

RVAspeculator said...

So few people understand how bad it is here in the US. They think these problems are just Europe's.

I posted a comment here as "Anonymous" telling you to keep up the good work a while back. So now I am actually signed in telling you the same thing. :)

Charles R. Anderson, Ph.D. said...

I appreciate the encouragement. It is good to know that I am being read by people who do understand that our individual rights are under unremitting assault from big government. I try to put some of the arguments I have worked out in the hands of others and to simply make some useful facts available. This blog also helps to bolster my memory. I can easily search it to refresh my memory.

Of course, I will also be grateful when readers either add to the arguments or point out any errors.

Greg said...

Looks like the first primaries aren't looking so hot for the Dems. Hopefully their replacements have the brains and guts to save this country from ruin.

Charles R. Anderson, Ph.D. said...

It has been looking really bad for incumbents, perhaps especially Democrat incumbents. This is good. Far too many incumbents have been in Washington too long and Washington has a great power to corrupt morals.

Will the replacements be any better? So far, the actual elections decided for immediate placement in office have all gone to Democrats. All Democrats, even so-called Blue Dogs, are really just Pelosi Dems when it comes time to vote. Critz in PA District 12 is surely a Pelosi Dem.

The Tea Party is making an impact, but the only actual election they have won is Scott Brown's. He is one of the few Republicans going along with Dem plans to broaden the regulation of the financial industry, minus the rogues at Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac, and AIG. The Tea Party effect on politics in Washington is still nearly nil in terms of actually reversing directions toward a limited government concept. I have high hopes, but all the results are still in our future. I hope.

Greg said...

I think the best bet for the Tea Party is for the GoP to realize what they're about, make some adjustments, and make common cause.

At least one of those dems winning the primaries has said that he would not have voted for the health care bill (his name escapes me at the moment.) Words are cheap, but that probably helped him win.

"I have high hopes, but all the results are still in our future. I hope."

Yeah, I think that sums things up nicely.

Charles R. Anderson, Ph.D. said...

Democrat Mark Critz won the 12th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. He did claim he would have voted against ObamaCare, but he was one of John Murtha's Congressional Staff Members and a Washington insider long corrupted by Murtha's wheelings and dealings. Personally, I would be very surprised if such a man would have opposed Pelosi and voted against ObamaCare. His district has a 2 to 1 Democrat registration advantage over Republicans, so he almost certainly would have gone along with Pelosi. Pelosi allowed those Democrats facing tough re-elections to deviate as need be, but Critz in the PA 12th would never have qualified for such relief. Clearly, the people of the 12th District of PA have not done any serious thinking about freedom in a long time.