Category Archives: Europe

Fairness Doctrine Is Censorship In Hungary

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Ross| Leave a comment

Actually, it is considered censorship here too, although the political Left will disagree. Freedom, especially freedom of the press and freedom of speech has been diminished in Hungary.

Hungary’s recently elected right-wing government has introduced a law demanding — under threat of fines and even shut-down — that news sources be “fair and balanced,” to borrow a phrase from a US news network.

But it doesn’t stop there.

[T]the agency created to determine whether news outlets are in compliance is stacked with political allies of the prime minister and would essentially have the freedom to punish news outlets as it sees fit.

The EU gets it and does not approve. Brings into question the notion that Hungary is not representative of the EU.

The law has raised concerns among Hungary’s European Union partner countries, particularly given that the country will assume the EU’s rotating presidency on January 1. Germany, in particular, has questioned whether Hungary can now be considered a legitimate representative of European values.

Media included in the law is TV, daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and internet sites. The whole nine yards. What is particularly amazing is that it wasn’t that long ago that Hungary was in the communist bloc where there was no freedom of the press. What are they thinking?

Link: In the Middle of Europe, a Democracy Introduces Press Censorship

Posted in Europe, Fairness Doctrine, Politics

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Obama To Focus On The Economy; Believe It, Or Not

Posted on December 23, 2010 by Ross| Leave a comment

Breaking news from the Associated Press, ‘Obama pledges economic focus during next 2 years.’ Sounds eerily similar to his presidential campaign doesn’t it?  Two years later, there remains only a marginal, if any, net increase in full-time permanent jobs, and unemployment is still going up.

Providing zero analysis, not only is this story nothing more than a press release from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, but it is apparent that the Associated Press has no memory of its own either.

‘What do you mean no memory?’ you ask?

Aug. 1, 2009 – May 7, 2010: “I Will Not Rest . . .”

Dec. 4, 2009: Obama puts renewed focus on job creation

Jan. 21, 2010: Obama to focus hard on economy after Democratic loss

Dec. 22, 2010: Obama pledges economic focus during next 2 years

That President Obama is still working on the economy is evident. What is becoming more evident is that the American people mistakenly thought he was going to create jobs and stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, his goal to ‘remake America’ is a longer term project.

He must first dismantle our free-market economy which necessitates unemployment going higher, which necessitates unemployment compensation going longer, which creates a growing population (not counting millions of undocumented Democrats from Mexico) more dependent on the government. That, coupled with more industries coming under the control of the federal government and viola, we’ll be just as broke and socialist a nation as any one in Europe. Under Obama, the days of unemployment under 5 percent are over and gone. The new norm will be somewhere between 10-15 percent. And if he can do it in one term, all the better. To him, that would be Mission Accomplished.

How long does it take before hearing what you want to hear takes a back seat to seeing the results that you want to see?

Posted in Economy, Europe, Immigration, Media, Politics

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Restructure, It Worked For Russia

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Ross| Leave a comment

In fact, it worked for Russia and Argentina. In fact, to keep ‘bailouts’ on the table for countries that are currently set up to spend more than they take in is, I’ll use a technical word here, crazy. It is a waste of everyone else’s money and does not solve the problem.

Socialist states must restructure. The post WWII boom days are over. The demographics are nothing like they were 50 years ago. And ‘reform’ means ‘taking away.’

The cure means a new economic model for Europe. The lesson for the United States is that transforming America into the image of Europe is not only the absolute wrong direction for our country, but is antithetical to President Obama’s responsibility of being the steward of the country and the Constitution.

Link:  In European Debt Crisis, Some Call Default Better Option |  The State Of The Welfare State

Posted in Economy, Europe, Politics, Russia

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Ireland Asks EU For Bailout

Posted on November 21, 2010 by Ross| Leave a comment

What happens when markets are interferred with? Like when ‘too big to fail’ becomes the excuse to fake a ‘market correction?’ In our case, we see how well that worked out. It hasn’t. Instead, what it has done is cripple the markets, paralyze investement and economic growth.

Ireland has been brought to the brink of bankruptcy by its fateful 2008 decision to insure its banks against all losses – a bill that is swelling beyond euro50 billion ($69 billion) and driving Ireland’s deficit into uncharted territory.

Economists question whether the economies of Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece will grow sufficiently to build their tax bases and permit them to keep financing, never mind paying down, their debts.

Unfortuanetly for Ireland, they bought in to that same excuse. Problem for them is, with their much smaller economy, the consequence is more severe. Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece are all in the same boat. Hit with the financial perfect storm of unsustainable social welfare economies and handicapped free-markets, the European dominos are all in line to fall.

Link: Ireland swallows bitter pill, asks EU for loan

UPDATE: 11/23/2010 In European Debt Crisis, Some Call Default Better Option

Posted in Economy, Europe, Politics

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Obama Leaves Country, Currency War Looms

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Ross| Leave a comment

It was two weeks ago when the G20 met to pretend that global inflation or a currency war was not going to happen. The media was pre-occupied with helping Democrats get elected so they didn’t make a big deal of it. As it turns out, they weren’t too successful. Neither was the G20.

It was only yesterday that The Lunch Counter called your attention to the consequences of the Federal Reserve (Ben Bernake) fiscal action of monetizing the country’s debt. All done as a last-ditch effort to save an economy that isn’t being saved by President Obama’s economic policies.

If today’s headlines don’t give you cause to worry, then I don’t know. How about not voting in a federal election ever again until you figure it out?

Posted in Economy, Europe, Politics

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France’s Sarkozy, Making The Hard Choices

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Ross| Leave a comment

Doing what every nation in Europe needs to do (and the United States is no exception), French President Nicolas Sarkozy has the guts to do what needs to be done to prevent France from becoming another Greece. The European economies are over-run with debt and unsustainable pension plans, retirement plans, employment laws, and social welfare plans that they can no longer afford. It is to the point that reform means ‘taking away.’

We have the same problem here. It is just as serious, but not as bad. For now. But that will change in a few short years.

Labor unions like the SEIU know all about it. They don’t want to give up anything in Europe, and are fighting tooth and nail in this country, with the help of the Obama administration, to find a way for the government to bail them out of their un-sustainable pension and benefit plans. The plan here is to just nationalize industry, then the union’s problem becomes our (the taxpayers’) problem. And you see  how well that’s working out in France.

The amazing thing is that, having lived under socialism for over 60 years, Europe is trying to get away from it while President Obama and his advisors are rushing us towards it.

Links: The State of the Welfare State |  Sarkozy defies French strikers on pension reform |  And closer to home: Public Sector Pension Funding Just Became Three Times More Fun

Posted in Economy, Europe, Politics, Uncategorized

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GOP Aiming Backwards?

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Ross| Leave a comment

Only Obama and others who harbor a distaste for free market capitalism, American exceptionalism, the Constitution,  personal liberty and freedom can ignore over 200 years of progress and call continuing that as going backwards.

It wasn’t socialism that made this country the best in the world, by any standard. For example, the poor in this country have cell phones, color televisions, cars, homes that don’t melt in the rain, electricity, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, a school to learn, medical care to heal and food stamps to eat.

On the perpetual campaign, addressing a crowd during a town hall-style meeting and referring to Republicans, Obama said . . .

“They want to take us backwards, we want to move forwards.”

President Obama and his administration are about one generation too late to push a socialist agenda that the socialists in Europe are now turning away from. Learning through experience that, like Margaret Thatcher said, ‘the trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money,’ they have reached the point of entitlement un-sustainability. The very same direction Obama’s vision is taking us. The inconvenient truth about Obama is that the leading European countries see Obama as having a vision of going backwards. Not the GOP.

Link: Politico: GOP aiming ‘backwards’ – Kendra Marr and Carol E. Lee

Posted in Economy, Europe, Politics

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U.S. Debt Poised to Overtake GDP

Posted on June 8, 2010 by Ross| Leave a comment

Hellooooo! Eh, no problem. According to VP Joe Biden, the stimulus bill was an absolute success.  Maybe so for labor unions, and government workers. The latter being the only job sector that has grown.

When government grows government jobs, it is adding overhead to an already broke company, or rather, country. Who pays their salaries? You do. Government employees and government jobs don’t make money, they consume it.

What happens next? Picture a snowball at the top of a hill. For the last couple years, economists were warning about out-of-control spending, deficit spending. So is China, a major benefactor of the dreamers in Washington.

The government is gambling with the future of the country, or more accurately, the future of your children and grand children. They claimed that all this spending was needed to jump-start the economy. Realists were warning that the debt is heading to an unsustainable point. They warned that when interest rates begin to rise from their all-time low, that we wouldn’t be able to make the interest payments on the debt, let alone the debt itself.

The problem is not where to get more tax revenue. The problem is where to find the guts to cut spending. Realists were telling Washington to look at Greece and Europe to see what we can expect to happen here IF we don’t roll back spending.

Well, it is starting. Interest rates on our debt is poised to rise. The time to get real has come. The time has come to put all our dreams of a socialist utopia behind us and realize the truth of the matter that, just like you and your household can’t live beyond your means, the country can’t either.

Link: U.S.’s $13 Trillion Debt Poised to Overtake GDP: Chart of Day – Bloomberg.com.

Posted in China, Economy, Europe, Organized Labor, Politics

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aSide Order

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Ross| Leave a comment

April 28, 2010, Obama was concerned about Greece’s ‘debt problems.’ They’re monitoring it closely.

“This is something that is of great concern to the president and we’re monitoring it very closely,” Burton told reporters on Air Force One, adding that the U.S. Treasury Department and other agencies were “in close contact with folks in Europe about the issue.”

Have you heard anything from the administration since?

What has happened since is this; Obama urged Germany and the EU to go the bail-out route. Why should we be the only country in debt for generations to come? The Euro is falling, Greece is burning, the dollar is gaining at the expense of the Euro. The dollar gaining causes the bolivar to tumble, bringing Venezuela’s inflation up to 30%.

Missed in all of this is the common thread; welfare state economies are not sustainable.

Does watching it closely make it better? Maybe we could refrain from becoming like them? Do ya think?

Scientists in mainly Muslim Kazakhstan have come up with an instant test for the presence of pork in food.

Pork? Our genius politicians in Washington don’t know what it is.

Used copy machines can be a good deal in the wrong hands. Check out this video before you get rid of yours.

Posted in Economy, Europe, Politics, Venezuela

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