Really, Joe?

Earlier this month, Joe Biden said something that was moronic even for him. He stated that Brussels was more entitled to be named the capital of the Free World. Really? Brussels is like any other major city in Europe. It has seen bloody rebellions, wars of succession, political upheavals, religious repression, and has been a way point for invading armies coming and going between France and Germany (and its earlier principalities) for centuries. Its modern history saw it as the transit point for Germany in both WWI and WWII.

According to Joe, it deserves the title because it is the headquarters of NATO and the European Union. Let's see, NATO is 95% paid for and manned by the US military. The European Union, and its monetary union can not agree on the time of day, let alone a sound fiscal policy. Brussels has become the symbol of a Europe that is trying to come together, but simply can not let go of its past, either culturally or politically. The Transnational Progressives have infected and killed the experiment a long time ago. The PIIGS situation is simply demonstrating that the Haves will always be forced to subsidize the Have-Nots. Germany was pressured by the other EU states (and Obama) into the Trillion dollar bailout of the Southern European lay-abouts who squandered an opportunity to shelter under a strong currency. Now both the EU and its monetary policy are in ruins and will likely fall apart in the next few years.

By what right can Joe make that claim? All Brussels has been good at is telling its member states (nations) what it can and can't do within its own borders. It has been impotent and blind to the worst dealings of the modern day like genocide in the Balkans, the Oil for Food scandal, Russian murder and intrigue, and a Germany that is coming again to dominate Europe.

So like most things that Joe says, I just have to shake my head. On another note, though, he is an inspiration to me on another level. If he can be Vice President of the United States then I can, literally, be anything I want to be and do a half-way decent job at it.

On this day, please remember who it is that is the guardian of peace and freedom in the world today. It is the American soldier. Not the European or Russian, or Korean. Us. It is the common farm folk of middle America, the street wise loudmouth of Italian descent from Brooklyn, and the eager immigrant (legal, damn it!) that keeps this world safe. If you come across a Progressive, or worse yet, the Transnational Progressive (is there a difference these days?), please ask them when the last time a bunch of weenie-tots ever did anything right without the US military there to make it a reality.

Happy Memorial Day people, and when you are grilling your steaks, remember the men in the dust and dirt who make this possible for us.

--Zavost

Ship of Fools

There are times that I simply can not believe what I hear or see in the media or among my circle of associates. The sheer, stupendous ignorance of the American people is truly frightening. I sometimes feel like the only sane person on a Ship of Fools.

There is nothing going on today that has not happened a hundred times throughout human society. The names of the people and nations have been different, but they all follow similar paths. Mao, Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, and Caesar to name only a few, all had humble beginnings, a shadowy and an inconspicuous rise on the fringes, and then a sudden rush to power when society became weak and stressed by outside influences. The rush to power is made with a promise of normalcy even while they completely remake society, or "fundamentally transform" the status quo.

If the people could step away from the euphoria of the moment and engage any form of critical thinking they would realize that they might be better off with the difficulties of today then the uncertainty of tomorrow. The American system is not broken, but it has been bent. It needs a reboot; badly. Fundamentally, returning to the American system of the 1870's will repair most of what ails us. In fact, any time before the Progressive movement would fix us. We need a reboot. The government is too big and too intrusive. I'll list a few gems that have set my mind spinning of late:

Michelle Obama noted the other day that the recently passed Health Care Reform contains provisions giving the Federal Government the power to regulate the marketing of food items to children, and by extension, all of us. Really, I didn't see that and neither did anyone else I know. It's probably mucked up in there somewhere, it was a huge bill, after all. Sponge Bob (don't judge me) has gone all environmental on us and may be forced to begin preaching a healthy lifestyle to the nations' children. Bad time to be a fry cook.

The Agro business has been ordered to reduce the salt content in their food because the American people can't put down the salt shaker. Are they going to take away my salt shaker? If the food tastes like Yak because there is no salt in it from the producer, I WILL put salt on it. Dopes. How about sugar? Yep, that will be controlled as well.

Congress is telling Banks and Wall Street how they can trade. Regulators are going to be doubled on oil rigs because they spent too much time collecting royalties and too much time letting the industry write its own over site controls.

Obama goes off script and says things like, "I believe that you can make too much money," and more "Bush-isms" then even Bush made. Rush is right in that Obama is ALWAYS the most unqualified man in any room he walks into. This is the guy who thinks he is running America? I'll save Soros and the shadowy people in the background for another day.

Since when can a school tell a student to take off a shirt because it has an American flag on it? I don't care what day of the year it is. Did the school take down the flag in the school yard on May 5th? Since when is it ok for the government to spend four times more money in a month then they take in...on the single highest revenue month (thats April, people, tax month)?

A Ship of Fools. We have a President who really has done nothing except have a useful background that made him electable, er, pliable to the right people. A Vice President who is the Lord and Master of Fools (lay off the Botox there, Joe, it is poison if you use too much). Pelosi is a Left coast Marxist while Reid is simply a politician who loves the perks. We have a Main Stream Media (MSM) that has been sympathetic to the left for the last 50 years (I still have no idea why) and provides the Marxists around the world with credibility though they seem to be too stupid to realize that they will be the first ones up against the wall when the Marxists do take power. We have a Hollywood and Media elite that are so bored with their fame and wealth (and very, very guilty too) that they take up one stupid cause after another. They never seem to come up with the idea of giving all their money away and living a simple life. You know, give all that money to the poor so that they won't be, like, poor any more. Never comes to them. They will be the second class of people up against the wall. We have a public that thinks that life will go on being good and unchanging. The problems of the world are always elsewhere, never realizing that those problems have been here and will come again. They put on their iPods and play with their iPads, paying for things with credit cards and home equity loans, never really thinking about how long or hard it will be to pay all that back.

The world is going mad. It is 1930 again. The players on histories stage are coming on to play their parts. Our Hitlers and Stalins and Maos are among us, spinning their tales. Europe is again burning, America is again slumping into depression, and the American people continue whistling down the road in their cars like nothing is going on in the world, too wrapped up in their insular lives.

I asked my Grandmother years ago what it was like to live through the Great Depression and World War II. She shrugged and said that it was hard but that you just live your life. A very understated and under appreciated woman, she is. That part of our history has been romanticized through the movies and modern history books. The reality was a grind. The country saw unemployment of between 12 and 25% from 1930 to 1946. My Grandmother was 10 years old when the stock market crashed. She was a teenager during the Depression. She was 20 when WWII got serious in Europe. She was there for the darkest moments in our modern history and when I asked her what it was like, she just shrugged and told me that she got on with living. She made do and found happiness in her husband, her family, her friends, and her church. The rest just took care of itself. She didn't actually say all of that, but that shrug and her one sentence unpacked a lot of information.

So, I'll get on with my life, take care of my wife and children, and work hard on carving out some comfort and sanity in the world that is coming. Thank you, Grandma. What I'm truly sorry for is that you have lived so long that you have to see it come to us, once again.

-Zavost

Trying Times

The times that will try our souls is fast approaching. The Federal government continues its efforts to centralize and control all aspects of our finances, medical care, transportation, communication, etc. The dollar grows weaker and more exposed every day. Unemployment continues to climb even while the government talks about adding more than 200,000 non-farm jobs last month. How does this happen? More people are trying to look for work again. Unemployment benefits are running out and are forcing people back into the job hunt. Why not, the media continuously blasts the word "RECOVERY" at us. False hope and optimism.

The national debt and current deficits are issues that will not go away and we can not "Grow" our way out them. Not this time. Even at double digit GDP growth it will still take something like 50 years of compounded growth to pay down the principle debt let alone the annual interest on that debt, which is predicted to be 100% of GDP in the next 18 months. Read that last sentence over a few times and think about that. Throughout history few nations have ever been able to survive that ratio let alone remain unchanged and impotent. Our choices narrow with every passing week and month. I wrote on those choices some time ago. I had more to write about then. Now I see only two options left us. The first is that we default on the debt and deal with those consequences. The second is that we run into hyperinflation to wipe out the debt. Devalue the dollar until the debt becomes meaningless. Both options mean throwing away two centuries of sound financial planning.

Our civil liberties are under assault in ways not seen since Wilson or FDR. The Patriot Act, instead of being killed off as Obama promised has had its sunset clauses removed. This means that the Patriot Act is now the law of the land unless specifically repealed. How about that. Bush was Hitler's lost step child because of it. Obama gets a free pass and cover by the MSM. The Internet is in danger of becoming a "Public Utility". This means that the government will decide how it is used and what can be on it. There is virtually no public banks issuing mortgages anymore. Almost 97% of all new mortgages being issued are being underwritten by the Federal Government (that is you and me folks, just thought to remind you).

Businesses are not hiring and are siting the new Health Care 'Reform' act pushed up our noses. The cost to hire anyone just skyrocketed. This is why Europe runs a routine 20% unemployment rate. The cost of benefits will grow so high that a company will forsake growth for stability. Think about that last sentence again. If your population is growing yet your private sector is not hiring, then your unemployment rate will always be climbing, even in the good times. If you do not now have a college education, you likely will not be able to participate in the new economy. The cost of education is outrageous and now that the government has taken it all over, will only get more so. Even those of us with a college education and a graduate degree are under pressure. Businesses are consolidating and squeezing more productivity out of the available staff. This means fewer people 'managing the money' and fewer people 'making the money'. That means a glut of highly educated people who will either be under employed or unemployed.

I wish I could see farther ahead but all I see is 1933. When the economy really tanked back in 2008, the malls were still busy and people seemed to be busy going about their lives. I commented to my wife one day that it feels like January, 1930. The economic engine sputtered and died and coasted for a year or two before things really bit down on the country. Hoover deepened the problems with wasteful spending programs that only propped up the old system. Hoover = George W. Bush. Then along came FDR who said that it can only be fixed if the Feds step in and take everything over and manage it centrally. Things nosedived from there and it was another 12 years and a world war that pulled us out of the economic coma. FDR = Obama.

Who will come after this and pull us out of the deep coma our incompetent president and corrupt politicians have placed us in? Only a true American, rooted deep in the soil of our Founder's philosophy will pull us out of this. It will be painful, but if it is done right, will only last between one and three years. Eliminate the barriers to small businesses and get the government out of our way and "We the People" will fix this, and hopefully retain the long memory of what happens when you fail to hold your elected officials accountable.

-Zavost