The fiscal cliff deal: America’s European moment

obama in a beret

The fiscal cliff deal: America’s European moment. “The troubling similarities between the fiscal mismanagement in Washington and the mess in the euro zone.” Just remember that the US has a fiat currency that its pols can print at will whereas the Euro-cliff-jumpers do not (the ECB is controlled by the EU member states.) So while an EU country could theoretically go bankrupt, our Fed will just print money until a loaf of bread costs $20 or more. Doesn’t that make you feel better?

Bonfire of the Absurdities: After 35 year career writing software for IBM mainframes, am now self-employed contractor thinking of joining a union and striking for higher wages. Cured morbid fear of heights when I learned to look at them as lengths standing on end. Uncompromising in refusal to accept browser cookies. Amateur investor who has accumulated a small fortune in the market after starting out years ago with a large one. For recreation, I run, hike, kayak and play tennis but will not consider synchronized swimming under any circumstances.

View Comments (55)

  • All these baby steps toward making us a socialist state remind me of this exchange in the movie Escape From LA:

    Kurt Russell (Pliskin):
    Got a cigarette?

    Stacey Keach:
    The United States is a non smoking nation, no smoking, no drinking, no drugs, no women, unless of course you're married, no guns, no foul language, no red meat,

    Kurt Russell:
    land of the free.

    Movie description:
    A fascist US president enlists a jailed war hero to retrieve a top secret device Stolen by his daughter on island Los Angeles in 2013

    Interesting how the picked 2013 as the setting for the movie.

  • Here is the core problem as I see it. We have finally reached a tipping point where the Parasites now outnumber Producers. No organism (or nation) can withstand that in the long term.

    But I am not giving up. There was a great line in the movie "300" where Xerxes threatens King Leonides by saying, "Our arrows will darken the sky." The King responded - "Then we will fight in the shade."

    As an alternative quote, the great philosopher Homer J. Simpson had the best line describing what liberals must face constantly - "Why do things that ONLY happen to stupid people, keep happening to me??"

    :)

    • Of course. When a human body is riddled with any type of disease whose sole purpose is to eat up every single healthy cell it eventually dies. It is simple and it is plain. When I keep hearing people saying things like the rich can afford it, I think that they are thieves. Only thieves believe that by taking something from someone else there is no real crime because the person can afford it. What happens when everyone has NOTHING? When they are essentially dead due to every single healthy thing they had is now gone (eaten up)? What happens to those people that wanted to take things from others? Will they be sad that they were viruses OR will they demand that those that had somehow work for them so they can take again? It is a problem no matter how you slice it.

  • Just for fun I am going to pretend I am European tonight, I shall smoke terrible cigarettes, drink cheap wine, put my nose in the air and complain about the rich not paying their fair share, and then eat at least a pound of cheese. Oh wait....that an Obama house party...nevermind...

  • Like any of these treasonous tax fattened hyena care about the massive inflation that's about to hit. The last thing they will say before the riots start will be how unexpected the latest credit downgrade was.

  • Okay I am going to say something here... Obamie looks whack but Boehner kind of looks cute right? with the shorts and what not he somehow manages to look manly.. or I'm really crazy right now?

    • One thing I've learned, if it says Krugman on the article, don't read it, I'm already on blood pressure meds, I don't need to exacerbate it.

    • Feel free to correct me if I am wrong... You spend more money that you take in... you incur debt

      You take out a loan and are unable to pay it back you pay little by little or not at all you are in debt

      You buy something on credit you are incuring debt...

      So basically in order to avoid debt you pay everything up front, right away, buy nothing on credit and take no loans.

      Do I understand debt or I am really don't know what I am talking about?

        • So basically, for our Federal Government to reduce the debt even a little bit, they have to increase income or reduce spending to the level of having a surplus. A real one, not that phony surplus Clinton claimed. That's gonna take some serious changes. The Republicrats will NOT do it. Period.

  • The trouble with this country is that people with honesty, brains and deep love of country never win. The ones that do win are overcome with power and greed. That is my humble opinion.

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