Greek Tragedy
By Amit Singh | Sunday, March 28th, 2010 | Policy
As passage of the latest encroachment into the lives of everyday Americans was signed last week by President Obama, politicians on the Left are cheering that we are finally catching up to Europe. I have seen many signs proclaiming “Healthcare is a Human Right” which I find strange considering healthcare insurance did not exist 100 years ago.
I would imagine what is a human right is the ability to manage your own property the way you deem fit. By printing money to pay for new entitlement programs we cannot afford, the government is reducing the value of people’s hard earned savings and impeding our rights to use our money the way we intend.
The Greeks now have to endure the embarrassment of accepting loans from the IMF typically reserved for Third World countries since the Germans do not want to bailout the first Olympians. Will the Chinese let the U.S. economy become a tragedy or remain a comedy?
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13 Responses to "Greek Tragedy"
In your article please delineate between the chinese people, many of whom are economic slaves, and the chinese government. The Chinese people generally have a desire to see us succeed so we can buy their goods.. Their communist government is laughing all the way to the treasury.. our treasury. Without firing a shot they are winning the battle and their old school communists see our socialist democrats as useful idiots unopposed to them while they conquest world trade and underhandedly threaten to punish our currency. We remain an obedient world power militarily because our trade imbalance with China, due primarily to short sighted narrow minded ‘Me me me I want it now’ consumers, is like a license for the Chinese to print more of their money when they prefer no to but will because it undermines the US note.. likewise, their useful idiot democrats will keep printing more just for them.
China is winning the debt game long run and our kids will be their financial slaves someday if we do not stop printing their future away speaking of which, when will we audit the treasury and expose what goes on behind the curtain?? Lets have a roll call and see who wants a third party entity to do that audit to expose what may be a third column so to speak?
As more voters become unemployed, you are going to see a more socialist bent to how the voters cast their ballot. You can not expect the majority of society to accept having their houses foreclosed on while they watch Joe Fortunate cruise by in his Bentley.
I am a self employed individual and I got mine. But when the majority of voters do not have theirs, how do you expect them to vote?
Will promises that if we cut taxes for the wealthy really yield more jobs? Perhaps you can convince a majority of the voters for a time, but in the meantime you have not convinced me. When too much wealth is gathered into too few hands, there is going to be a backlash from the electorate.
In America, you can not stop the power of the vote.
With due respect, that the economy is a mess and high unemployment is expected for many years is no more a tragedy than when someone deliberately ignores the laws of physics and drives their car off a cliff.
The tragedy is that voters elected Obama, not understanding that his ideology meant he liked the opportunity posed by the crisis (“Never let a crisis go to waste,” as Rahm Emmanuel said).
For over a year now, Obama has ignored the high unemployment, the record number of Americans on food stamps, and the burgeoning US debt. He’s seen the suffering; he just doesn’t care about it.
What he cares about is transforming this country. Obama and the Dems’ think of economic suffering as collateral damage in their campaign to make a better America. I think it was Mao who said “To reach perfection, the child must sometimes be beaten.”
Morr from economic writer Robert Samuelson:
Should the United States someday suffer a budget crisis, it will be hard not to conclude that Obama and his allies sowed the seeds, because they ignored conspicuous warnings. A further irony will not escape historians. For two years, Obama and members of Congress have angrily blamed the shortsightedness and selfishness of bankers and rating agencies for causing the recent financial crisis. The president and his supporters, the historians will note, were equally shortsighted and self-centered — though their quest was for political glory, not financial gain.
Let’s be clear. A “budget crisis” is not some minor accounting exercise. It’s a wrenching political, social and economic upheaval. Large deficits and rising debt — the accumulation of past deficits — spook investors, leading to higher interest rates on government loans. The higher rates expand the budget deficit and further unnerve investors. To reverse this calamitous cycle, the government has to cut spending deeply or raise taxes sharply. Lower spending and higher taxes in turn depress the economy and lead to higher unemployment. Not pretty.
@turbo, definitely delineate between the people and govt. I was in China 3 years ago and I don’t think things have changed since I left so sorry for the confusion.
@salt lick, you state the electing Obama was a tragedy but the real tragedy to me is that we didn’t have a real alternative in McCain. I voted for Bob Barr anyway knowing he wouldn’t win, but when the 2 main candidates are going to move the country in the same direction, the joke is on U.S.
@LD, man you are exhausting in your limited thought. where do you think jobs are going? just vanishing into thin air? or are companies moving their factories and services to countries more favorable to their bottomline? the US has the 2nd highest corporate tax rate in the world! remove the tax burden and you will see the unemployment rate go from 10% to 1% in about 12 months. you obviously are not thinking like a business man.
I think LittleDavid has issued a significant challenge to the thinking members of this forum, and that is to stop the policy of obfuscation, and determine what you would propose to stop the decline of the broad middle class that has lost status and material reward, and is on the way to losing hope. That is not a forumula for civil society, and until the political leaders deal with the loss of income, the loss of status, the loss of control, and the loss of optimism that our children will do better, then we are all in trouble. After this more than three decades of the predominance of the trickle down theory put forth by many, and the absolute demonstration that it is not that simple, citizens really want answers to the problem of dealing with a global marketplace without sacrificing our standard of living. Let’s stop with the innane in fighting and start dealing with issues on the basis of a real assessment of our global position.
…determine what you would propose to stop the decline of the broad middle class that has lost status and material reward, and is on the way to losing hope.
It’s useless to discuss this with someone who won’t concede that adding to a crippling national debt will hurt the middle class. That’s like arguing with a drunk who says alcohol is not a problem.
Over the weekend, Alan Greenspan said the failing trust in US Treasuries was “the canary in the mine.” That bird is singing some serious middle class blues to come.
Those left of center utopians so thrilled that a centralized US government is “catching up to europe” deny base psychology.. many humans are tribalistic and often decide not to like people who are different. With Europe’s sudden surge of welfare/healthcare dependents and unemployed foreigners in the last few decades (and the crime and economic costs that come with it), it is only a matter of time before EU cultures submit to the forces of a hostile new generation. It’s unavoidable and it is another reason why the whole of Europe is likely toast. Most all of these countries save for Finland have effectively been colonized by poorly educated, desitutute, non-assimilating, and non-productive angry folks who import their problems along with their families.. Their entitlements are a honeypot.
There is a future history lesson buried in there somewhere. Kenny Golden has a worldy viewpoint and he understands this dynamic. Where are the other candidates on these issues? Their silence is deafening.
Thanks Mike,
At the risk of being described a facist, I will say that I actually lean towards eliminating all taxes on business in our nation other then environmental impact “fees” (you pay the costs of cleaning up what you dirty).
However I am also in favor of a progressive tax system and I describe the estate (death) tax as the most beautiful tax there is.
You get something you like and something you hate out of me. If there are red button issues with me it includes those who attempt to destroy the American Way. The American Way includes a progressive tax system as far as I am concerned.
@LittleDavid,
Why not replace the whole Federal tax system with the Fair Tax, which is a progressive tax? It would have the added benefits of bringing jobs to America and being incredibly simple (bad for HR Block).
What is a beautiful tax? One that doesn’t allow individuals to decide how to distribute their own money?
Waits for Little David to react to Jerry’s Fair Tax question.
Hehe, this might be fun.
The Fair Tax would increase my taxes to give a tax cut to the likes of Paris Hilton. That is not the American Way.
While the Fair Tax includes limited protections for the lower class, it rapes the middle class to provide tax cuts for the upper class.
Have fun with that Britt Howard.
Little David,
I did find your earlier suggestion about unemployment and foreclosures leading to voters choosing socialism to be interesting. As did Mike B. it appears.
It would thereby provide incentive for those wishing for socialism, to increase unemployment and bring financial ruin to the the country. In order to prime this surge of people voting for socialism, one can wonder just how far a socialist would be willing to go. One could ask if higher unemployment numbers under President Obama and a Democrat Congress are not by design.
Things have become worse. Our financial position as a nation has also weakened further under President Obama. As awful as President Bush was, the current power holders are on the path to bring us even more of a disaster.
As to your Fair Tax response:
Less reactionary and fiery than I was hoping for David. All we got was a disagreement. Oh, well.
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