The Irrelevant Debate

Upon the Stoa, I sit with hand on chin, marveling at the ability of some to deny reality.

I speak of course, of the the "Super Committee" and of the EU's inability to grasp the seriousness of their situations.

The Super Committee was doomed before it even started. Why? Simply because it was a microcosm of the whole. Whether you have Congress locking up on party lines or a Super Committee locking up on party lines...you should have seen it coming.

Then again, it is all rather irrelevant, is it not?

To explain what I just said, let us look to Europe as our instructional model. For most of the 20th Century, they attempted to build a sort of Social Utopia, founded on a Social Democratic model that promised everyone a place in society and comfort in their lives. Free from uncertainty and failure.

If they agreed to pay massive taxes on everything under the Sun, sunlight included, then "the Government" would grant you a pocket with money, a job if you wanted one, and a place to live. Clean transportation and national healthcare.

Europe liberalized its laws and immigration practices, offering those from war torn regions of the world to come and share in their bounty.

With Multiculturalism and Transnationalism at full strength in Europe, they could not seem to foresee the swarming of their nations by people who were running from one hellhole in order to create a new hellhole in a new part of the world. Multiculturalism prevented these new influxes of refugees from integrating into the host successful and stable host culture. In other words, if women ran from Sharia Law to Britain, very quickly they found themselves bound by it again as a squishy British legal system backed off imposing native law on immigrants.

Lets do some word-math. You have a declining native population. You have a swelling immigrant population that is adding more births to your registry than native births. You have 20% unemployment, and a virtual trampoline of social benefits. Hmmm, sounds to me like very quickly you will have more people consuming than producing. Its not rocket science.

Europe is dying. It is dying as surely as if it had put a gun to its own head.

The issue right now is not Greece. It is not the Euro, nor is it the EU. It is their mentality of cradle to grave entitlements. There are only three things in the Universe that expand forever. One is the Universe itself. The second is compound interest, and the third is entitlement spending. Who could have seen that coming, Europe.

The United States faces its own, similar problem. In Europe, they continue to feel that if you throw money into new bond-buying, then somehow they will get OUT of debt. Scratch the chin on this one, folks. I owe a billion dollars, so if I borrow 2 billion dollars I can pay off the first guy and spend the rest. Then borrow 3 billion to pay of the second guy and spend the rest. You can not do this forever. Whether they are talking about national bond sales or a pan-Euro bond, it is still debt; no matter what fancy name you give it.

It is no wonder that each attempt at "containing the contagion" fails. The entire Union is ill, just some parts are more ill than others. The core is failing. Germany sees it, but too late to prevent it. They want to hold onto they money they have now and not see more of it get flushed.

Margaret Thatcher said it best, "Socialism works great until you run out of other people's money". Well said.

The situation is beyond them, now. They will have to suffer the consequences of promising what was never in their power to deliver in the first place. Happiness. You can not legislate happiness and contentment. Sometimes, contentment is reached through the struggle of living. If you play every game in "god" mode then it gets boring real fast.

Our "Super Committee" was truly doomed to failure, regardless of what they decided in the end. Shaving $1.2 Trillion over TEN years does nothing to keep you from going over the cliff if you are running a DEFICIT of $1.3 Trillion EVERY YEAR FOR 10 YEARS. The debt levels are already unsustainable. The situation is already beyond them. Truly.

The price must be paid. Reality must be satisfied. Debt must either be paid or defaulted upon. Government must shrink back down to about 8% of GDP if we even want a chance to survive in the near future. 48% and counting is what is causing this failure on a systemic level.

Don't put any faith in Congress to do the right thing. They have failed us for 75 years. Over a hundred if you include Theodore Roosevelt. They only thing they can do is make it worse. Of that I have full confidence.

Live well.

--Zavost