Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Puerto Rico . . . these are the rumblings of what before long will be a great global Vesuviusing, with nationally fatal pyroclastic flows, intercontinental ashfall, planetary climate disruption, mass migrations, riots, starvation, hysteria, disease, and unending strife.China, Russia, Europe, South America, and the US will flounder and drown in the morass of debt in the gazillions while their GDPs barely make it to the brazilians. Hurricanes of speeches and tons of promises won’t prevent a single balloon payment or cancel an ounce of debt.
Debts are like bastard children, begot in pleasure of the flesh, then brought forth in great pain and handicap. To promise fabulous socialist entitlements based on flawed arithmetic is to enslave the next generation who will inherit the budget shortfalls. And interest on debts grows without nourishment or watering.
The US central government seems to believe that a day will come when all debts are forgiven and everyone will live in some kind of utopia where self-replicating, self-repairing machines provide us with all our needs sans cost, where exactly-the-right-size Levis suddenly appear on shrubberies and meatball sandwiches flow from giant cornucopias in converted supermarkets.
At seven-point-five decades, I may already be safely under ground when the debt tsunami hits, but my grandkritters and their lot will be forced to pay for the mismanagement of thousands of politicians who tried to run cities on splenda, states on saccharine, and nations on nutrasweet.
Our entitlement systems, whether the leftistas choose to believe it or not, are not sustainable unless we discover the trick to turning hot air into gold. As Hamlet tells us: “I eat the air, promise-crammed. You cannot feed capons so.”
Meanwhile in China: BROKERAGES ANNOUNCE PLAN TO PROP UP SHARES.
Also see this (Click directly on the graphic to enlarge it):
Please discuss in the comments section. Got a crystal ball to check so as to see what's coming next?
I have no crystal ball, but we are on the same unsustainable path. Proof? Our debt is growing faster than our economy. That is unsustainable.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Bocopro's entire essay, but I especially loved this:
"Debts are like bastard children, begot in pleasure of the flesh, then brought forth in great pain and handicap."
Of course, such a statement is lost on most people today. Firstly, we can't use brusque words like that, and secondly, the majority of children today are born out of wedlock, and therein lies part of the problem, doesn't it?
I continue to be amazed at the lack of basic economic understanding of most people. All in one generation. Amazed that apparently few care.
ReplyDelete"Reagan taught us that deficits don't matter."
Delete--- Dick Cheney
Next you'll present the Rethugs as the party of austerity.
Silly.
There is no party of austerity in DC. They are all big spenders.
DeleteYou can tolerate a deficit (and addition to the national debt) for a limited time, if you economy is outpacing it.
But yeah, Ducky you have a point. A tired, old, retread, worn-out point.
Why not just stick your tongue out and shout "Nyah! They do it too!"
Is the future of the US now on display in Greece ?
ReplyDeleteUnited States National Debt $18,163,272,602,543.74
United States National Debt Per Person $56,511.53
United States National Debt Per Household $146,364.87
Total US Unfunded Liabilities $123,299,579,378,775.72
Social Security Unfunded Liability $15,114,274,907,905.22
Medicare Unfunded Liability $79,036,778,985,337.77
Prescription Drug Unfunded Liability $19,945,872,872,648.51
National Healthcare Unfunded Liability $9,202,652,612,884.22
Total US Unfunded Liabilities Per Person $383,622.96
Total US Unfunded Liabilities Per Household $993,583.46
Think of all we get from China (nearly everything, these days)...think of China going bust . Who'd provide..........all that STUFF? WOW.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you and the commenters above...particularly SF's comment about unsustainability, and the quote he cited. Chilling, isn't it. And still our government seems to be sleeping.... or planning? Just not planning as they should....not on OUR SIDE.
I have an American friend of Greek origin who has 2 houses on the Greek Island of Samos....she's VERY liberal and wants me to call her back (she left a message) in Washington State, where she's visiting family; I'm afraid to! The one thing we don't agree on is politics and I'm going to have to hear how it wouldn't help if the Greeks accepted some kind of austerity. ugh. Oh, and I'll have to hear how screwed up America is...not NOT socialist enough. In spite of what she sees in Greece.
THINK, far left liberals!...Open minds and educated thoughts matter !!:-)
Z,
DeleteI have an adult piano student who is retired from the IMF. Yeah, he's a liberal. But he says that there is no way out of this mess that Greece is in without austerity measures. He also decried the last election in Greece, an election which brought full-bore Leftists to power, and they proceeded to run up more debt, which there is little hope of paying back.
Another thing he told me today: "The IMF is the lender of last resort." So, if the IMF has cut off Greece's financial lifelines, unless Greece concedes to some austerity measures, Greece will descend into hyperinflation.
The Chinese manufacturing isn't going anywhere. As long as there is demand they will produce, we will buy and Kapital will do just fine.
DeleteThe working class in China, not so much.
If worse came to worst the manufacturing would probably move to Southeast Asia, Bangladesh and India.
If I were you I'd worry about subsidizing almond growers so that Kapital doesn't have to pay the true cost of water resources. Those bobos keep on drilling deeper wells along with the fracking and they're going to collapse the water tables.
Now that will get your attention.
The Greeks seem to feel they've had enough austerity and bullying.
DeleteThe scare tactics didn't work and finally someone is going to challenge the IMF.
All this over two billion dollars? That's freaking tip money.
It's a clash of egos and power and the Greek people said, "Screw You, Merkel".
I get a laugh out of the Germans lecturing others about not paying debts. Sheer hypocrisy.
Duck,
DeleteA little something to consider:
IF KEYNESIAN POLICIES LIKE DEFICIT SPENDING WERE STIMULATIVE, THEN GREECE AND PUERTO RICO WOULD BE GREAT ECONOMIES.
I may be mistaken, but I think that I read that more than two billion dollars was the issue in that more monies were funneled in to prevent the meltdown. Didn't work out so well from what I've been reading.
It depends on where the money is spent. Does it go to productive purpose?
DeleteRecently a Picasso sold for $180 million and a Giacometti for $140 million.
This all not long after the Francis Bacon triptych sold for $145 million.
And we're talking about extensive cuts in services so that the Greeks can restructure a few billion right now?
Figure it out and if the IMF gets it way look for a $200 million Picasso.
Is anyone paying attention?
More quacking canardos from the Marxist Merganser...
DeleteThe only bright spot in Ducky's comments is where he laments
"...Kapital doesn't have to pay the true cost..."
The central tenet of our progressive economies built on fluffy frosting and ice cream, with rainbows and unicorns floating overhead, is to hide the true cost from consumers.
All of us in the west are living a lie, a fantasy economy built on shielding people from hard facts.
Congratulations Ducky, you've stumbled into a fundamental truth. have you been reading Hayek on the sly?
No. I'm not likely to spend time pleasuring myself over an autographed photo of Margaret Thatcher.
DeleteWhat we should question is where all the money winds up.
Subsidizing the wealthy? No doubt. But if a single mother gets food stamps (a program with a higher economic multiplier and much sounder than corporate subsidies) the fringe right allows itself to get whipped to a lather.
Same with the situation in Greece. Paying taxes? The immediate assumption is that it's the working class and the billionaire shipping magnates who are stuffing their assets tax free in Luxembourg are just trying to create more jobs.
The worm is turning.
Before it's over we may even have the right understanding Keynes, Galbraith and a host of others and give up letting Hayek screw them.
Hell, they might even spend some time digesting Adam Smith's support for unions.
We need to print up t-shirts:
Delete$10 Trillion in Keynesian 'stimulus' and all I got was a lousy, stinking pile of debt I can't pay back"
Not pithy, but accurate.
Your silly disjointed sloganeering clouds the issue. You were closer with your 'true costs' statement.
When a poor prole pays her light bill, do you lament that her money winds up in the utility owner's pocket?
AOW-
DeleteThe U.S. contributes about 20 percent to the IMF. I hope Greece appreciates our contribution to their lifestyle.I haven't picked up the totall amount already dumped into this sewer.
I'm guessing they are not
DeleteSo Z, is the problem that Germany is sick of southern Europe or southern Europe is sick of Germany?
DeleteHere's a nation (Germany) that has benefitted from the formation of the EU. Loved it in the good times.
Now during the bad times they are unwilling (as leaders of the austerity crowd) to have Europe share in the bad times. They'd rather sink a bunch of countries. Not very sporting or even sound.
I'm glad George Marshall wasn't as big a prick as Angie.
Ducky, you're showing your utter ignorance out of your hate.
DeletePerhaps you need to be reminded of how much Germany pays on all fronts, including subsidies for French crops.... Americans need to get up on the truth.
Germany is absolutely sick of paying and paying....
But, then, you actually said above "The Greeks seem to feel they've had enough austerity and bullying. The scare tactics didn't work and finally someone is going to challenge the IMF."
So, you think austerity is a joke, right?
When will your type ever learn.
It's true that Greece's debt is chump change for most places; it's the economy of Louisiana, by the way.
But nobody owes the Greeks anything...particularly not the Germans.
Stop hating. You know, it can really hurt your health!
The new finance minister may be a game changer.
ReplyDeleteI'd be more concerned about the Aetna/Humana merger.
DeleteJob losses followed by increased premiums.
They are still in control.
Ducky,
DeleteI'm glad to see you acknowledge that the leftwing pipe dream known as Obamacare has resulted in premium increases.
"Bending the cost curve down" (beware any politician who employs such idiotic, prefabricated phrases), is right up there with "you can keep your doctor."
Thank you, dim libs...
Peter, Paul and Mary were so spot on about you government worshipers: "When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?"
Not to worry, though. When Clinton Crime Syndicate strong-arm Hillary becomes president, she'll take us to single payer.
DeleteSimple matter of getting Ayatollah Roberts and the Mullahs in Black Robes to do a little interpretive jiggery pokery and it'll be all fixed up, no need to try to battle those damned Rethuglican meanies.
Hillary dare not say that above a whisper on the campaign trail, though; don't want to scare off the normals. Despite the Democrat vote harvesting in poor urban areas, voter fraud and the illegal immigrant vote, she still needs a few more votes.
The AETNA/HUMANA merger may not be such a bad thing down the line. We shall see.
DeleteRegardless, this merger is part of the man now-necessary adjustments to the strictures of ObamaCare.
The latest SCOTUS ObamaCare decision may well have a lot to do with the AETNA/HUMANA merger, IMO. The merger was proposed prior to the SCOTUS decision, but I think that the SCOTUS decision sealed the deal.
I can't see that ObamaCare will ever be repealed. A variety of reasons for my belief in that regard. ObamaCare will be probably be tweaked and, perhaps, replaced with full-bore single payer.
As for premium increases, BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota is projecting a 50% increase in 2016 premiums. 50%! Why? In large part because millions with costly pre-existing conditions are now insured -- many of these insureds with subsidized premiums. So many high-risk people in the health-insurance pool necessitates premium increases.
SF,
DeleteSimple matter of getting Ayatollah Roberts and the Mullahs in Black Robes to do a little interpretive jiggery pokery and it'll be all fixed up, no need to try to battle those damned Rethuglican meanies.
The principles of federalism, those Constitutional principles which were supposed to protect us from collusion between the branches of federal government, have been shredded.
Forward! Into what, exactly?
I was just told my premiums are going up....."why?"
Delete"We can't afford all the mandates".
Oh, the joys of a healthcare system that only favors those who won't work. Good JOB, Obama and leftwingers!
ya, AOW...I think the new guy is going to have a better chance of success...the old one used some pretty nasty name-calling to get Greece what they needed! Not smart. We see how that worked...not
DeleteZ,
DeleteI was just told my premiums are going up....."why?"
"We can't afford all the mandates".
Yep.
A friend of mine got the same notice.
I have one more premium anniversary date before I qualify for Medicare. I'll have to work, of course, so as to afford any Medigap coverage.
There is a negative return on my working, however. If I make $24,00+, Mr. AOW's disability income is taxed.
The middle class is being taken to the cleaner's. Period.
@ AOW: Forward! Into what, exactly?
DeleteAccording to the the Hillary 2016 logo, either the Hospital, or Hell
I used to say go dig up Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson and ask them for your money. They promised it to you, I didn't.
ReplyDeleteUnfunded liabilities are only liabilities if you choose them to be. When I can forecast that I'm unable to afford a Lotus Exige, I stop shopping for one.
FYI...Chinese chaos worse than Greece.
ReplyDeleteDucky??? Hello???
ReplyDeleteDoesn't he know it's impolite to crap and run?
Today: Greece fails to offer new bailout plan at summit.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the failed ZeroCare business model: A doctor quipped to me, "Well, if you cannot afford it maybe you can get Medicaid. And then you won't find a doctor to take you!"
ReplyDeleteYep! Has ZeroCare offered healthcare liberty regarding choice? Nope. That is why I keep my private BCBS of Texas with skyrocketing premiums. I don't want to be reduced to the witch doctor from Haiti who accepts Medicaid.
Waaay off topic: But FDOTUS (first daughter) just got a broadcast internship. At age seventeen? She must be a genius....
And Hillary tells CNN tonight in an exclusive interview: "You should trust me and you can trust me."
Leaving the AOW blog now to go shoot a fireworks mortar tube off the top of my head....
Tammy