SCHWATZ: CAN AMERICA HANDLE AUSTERITY? NOT ONE CHANCE IN HELL!

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Can America Handle Austerity?
Not One Chance In Hell! By Karl Schwarz
8-5-11

 

Out here in the real world (meaning outside of Washington DC and Wall Street, sometimes America in general depending upon the subject) they use the acronym PIIGS to designate a group of failed economies. The acronym merely means Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain as glaring examples of what not to do.   Each of those nations are having to come to grips with the reality that a lackadaisical lifestyle and presumed socialism entitlements now have government debts exceeding the annual GDP of those nations. Said another way, weak work ethics equals crappy GDP performance, and no, there are no free lunches in life. That is especially true in the presence of corrupt governments and greedy banksters and corporations that skew what otherwise could be.   It still amazes me at how ignorant and selfish people can be to assume that government legislated entitlements are a right to something unearned. Ever hear of 'buying the vote'? The entire concept that people are entitled to something they never worked for is flawed and it is killing the global economy while the rich get richer and those entitlements and government waste are the poison killing everyone else.   Social Security is not an entitlement, it is a paid into system just like a retirement plan, a pension fund, etc. However, the greedy in Washington DC think it is their money to give to you as they see fit, or spend it on something else as they see fit. The SS system has no money to speak of because Congress likes to slip it out the back door to their buddies to fund more waste, more useless things. The system is an IOU from Uncle Sam to the American people, but the US government is broke. The IOU is unfunded, is worthless if Congress deems it so. In polite circles they call such an anomaly either bankrupt or receivership. Only in America do they put spin on it to call it leadership and prosperity. The US dollar is in the sewer. I took no pleasure in coining the phrase "Dead President's Toilet Paper' but that is exactly what it is now just 3 years later outside of America. The Japanese Yen is at an all-time high against the dollar and the dollar is pathetic compared to the Euro.   The point of this essay is that the US debt now exceeds GDP, so without any fanfare but with plenty of third-rate theater from DC, the acronym should now be designated as PIIGSA and add in America as a failed economy, an abject failure of leadership. A nation with leaders who spent too much time buying the vote and not paying attention to fiscal realities. When the largest single component of a National GDP is the sheer waste, squandering, corruption and follies of the government, folks, that nation has big problems now and long into the future. What is killing the US GDP is the US government and its appetite for money due to its irresponsibility, stupidity and wanton greed. They are the entitled, not you! Get it? When the largest 'exporter' in the US is 'financial services' at 56% of GDP and that is bereft of integrity, riddled with fraud, America has a product quality problem. The absence of durable goods exports just exacerbates the problem even more.   America will go down in history as the first major nation to stupidly attempt to base its economy on consumerism and consumption, while at the same time killing the consumer. Even before the ink dried on the 'debt deal', Nancy Pelosi admitted that the $2.4 trillion would only last about 18 months. My prediction is it will not last 9 months. There are too many piglets at the hog trough all wanting an easy tit at the DC Hog Trough Diner and there is yet another useless election year coming in just 8 months. Many votes to buy, so do not breathe a sigh of relief due to the theatrics in DC.   I hear the Democrats want to get rid of Barky for 2012; need I say more as to how truly pathetic this man has been as president? He has convinced me that America could have put a mulatto mannequin in the Oval Office and be better off today without him. I now see him clearly for what he is: The King of Useless Platitudes. Truly an all talk do-nothing and merely interjects useless rhetoric.   Now they want to redirect Social Security, as if it was their money, to the Defense Department and seek more expenditures of debt (not income) and more failures of conquest. The arrogant morons that were running Rome made the same mistake and it collapsed, died, finished. The United States of America will be the next empire to enter the pages of history as a good idea gone awry due to neglect, greed, corruption, lies, and leadership that could not find its way to the restroom and back unassisted.   There are many reasons that empires will not work on this planet, but never mind trying to explain the facts of history, or logistics, or even human nature to these nitwits in Washington, DC. They have deluded themselves as to their greatness and nary a soul can convince them of how truly useless they are in the bigger realm of things. It is akin to Bill and Hillary Clinton thinking they are smart enough to make communism and socialism work in America because we have the money to make it work. In fact, America does not have the money to make it work. That is a pipedream at best.   On the other hand, we have had to endure psycho-nitwits like George H W Bush and Junior, who in their elitist minds seem to think they are modern day Caesar. It is bad enough to have to fight a war, but America has had to endure 3 wars due to these two morons and they lied America and our allies into those wars.   I have tried to find simple things like honor, character, integrity, and a sense of decency in the past 3 presidents and the current Hand Puppet in the Oval Office. Sadly, I cannot find any virtue in any of them and their track record and that of America since 1990 bears that out. If you want to see what 21 years of abject failure looks like, take a hard critical look at America right now. How did things get this way? What got broken to the point that it cannot be fixed in the land that loves to call itself the Home of the Brave, and the Land of the Free?   Well, America keeps electing the wrong leaders. However, America gets the leaders it deserves. If America were to take a long, hard objective look at itself, just look at what was elected to serve in Washington, DC. A blind man can see it, yet most Americans still prefer those rose-colored glasses and hope things will change.   As my grandfather once cautioned, hope in the absence of any reason to hope is the trademark of a fool. To hope that cretins will change is a waste of time.   There is no such thing as freedom while in the shackles of debt, and Washington, DC has literally squandered the future of us, our children and our grandchildren pretending to be what it is no more. Every lie that led to every war, every fraud that led to every bailout, every quick fix, has just made the hole deeper.   When the national debt of a nation exceeds the annual GDP of that nation, the cancer has become terminal.   The US is no longer a democracy and the concept of democratic republic died even before the Civil War. The nation has become a cacophony of fools that have yet to figure out that the mirror cracked, the third-rate theater ended long ago, and the Titanic is sinking, again.   Just to keep the illusion alive that everything was hunky-dory in the US, DC and Wall Street literally stole over $4 trillion from foreign investors to create the housing bubble. Just so some lame-brained, do-nothing, no-job nitwit VOTER could own a home and all was fine in Umerika, the mortgage money was stolen. Can you grasp that, accept that, and accept that America was headed straight down like a 747 with all 4 engines out even before 9-11-2001?   Even before that they stole huge sums of money in the junk bond bubble, the S&L ­ real estate bubble, the dot.com bubble, the telecom bubble, and most recently their housing and war bubble. Yes, Dorothy, we are not in Kansas anymore and the war is yet another bubble that is killing America one day at a time.   Ever wonder where that $2 trillion went that Fed Chairman Bernanke refuses to disclose? It was hush-money to keep foreign investors who were lured into buying bogus AAA-rated dog shit US home loans and then having to face being sued as the criminals and fraud artists that DC and Wall Street are.   Many nations, especially Japan and China, are forced to rethink their positions after being bludgeoned or conned into choking down huge amounts of US debt to keep the illusion alive that everything was just hunky-damned-dory in the USA economy. They now realize that it was not only broken, it was flat broke, too.   America is nearing the point where the interest on the debt alone will soon exceed Federal Government tax revenues to pay it. That is when the fertilizer will hit the proverbial ventilator and America becomes like a puff of smoke on the world stage.   The US is a Christian nation? I say bullshit!!! No nation led by Christian leaders would lie every time they open their mouth, create wars based on complete and total fabrication of media and intelligence, steal from others just to make its citizens think that all was OK, go shop and make America strong. No job? Fine, go buy a car or home. No income? Fine, get a bunch of credit cards since Americans have bought off on the fallacy that debts are assets, credit is income, lies are truth and war is peace.   The only thing I am waiting to see regarding my homeland is when the majority of Americans accept that the Land of the Free has become a fascist state. The freedom is an illusion, the fascist state is not.   They changed laws to legalize theft driven by greed. They have even gone so far as to legalize the right to lie and mislead investors so funds can be stolen, the stockholders merely pushed aside. They have put out the light of freedom and liberty knowing full well that most Americans are too stupid to figure that out, or too cowardly to stand up and do something about it. When trapped with the prospect of being held accountable, they pass a law to grant immunity to their elite few. Even when enacting laws that apply to all, they exempt their elite few from having to pay attention or obey those laws. One term as Senator or Congressman, pension for life, no wonder some of the sleaziest Americans choose that as the easy meal ticket.   I get asked every day why I left America. Well, read the last three paragraphs and the answer is not hard to deduce. I finally had to accept the reality that what is broken in America cannot be fixed.   What is the US #1 in? The US is not #1 in all things any more, except it is #1 in debt level in sheer amounts. It is #1 in lying and fabricating wars so it can mask over the fact that the US no longer runs this world. It is #1 in military expenditures and military belligerence, all based on lies. Oh, lest I forget, the pretense government in Washington DC is also #1 in the world when it comes to brazen bullshit and lies on any and all subjects. Hell, they even lie when there is no downside to telling the truth.   The US is no longer the beacon of freedom and liberty. No longer does the rest of the world look up to America as an icon of truth, fairness, justice, civility, character, honor, or integrity. All of those virtues have died in America just in my lifetime. There is no discourse on anything that matters in America anymore.   The Empire has died, long live the death of the Empire but brace yourselves for the ramifications of that new reality. In pursuing an empire due to greed and arrogance, they have killed a great nation named America that used to be a lofty ideal that was worth emulating. What is coming is the ugliest bitch any living American has ever seen, and well deserved for a nation that is totally out of control. Payback, blowback, punishment for sins, lies and fraud are headed at America in ways most Americans cannot deal with or survive intact.   Did America have the right to steal over $4 trillion to prop up a bogus housing boom and devastate the retirement of foreigners? No, it never did and never will. Does America deserve 25% of world energy supplies each year to squander on lifestyle while true output and productivity drops each year? No, it never had that right, it assumed it did and millions have died due to such wanton arrogance.   Afghanistan is lost and the US is still trying to figure out how to take back Gwadar Pakistan from the Chinese military. That was to be the port where the much coveted Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline was to have ended. Oops! They spent so much time lying in Washington DC covering up their sin (and crime) of 9-11, they forgot to seal up the pipeline deal they conspired for over 30 years to take over and dominate the Caspian Basin.   Oops! They lost; they do not want Americans to figure that out. They really do not want Americans to make the connection of that pipeline, all of that oil and gas in the Caspian Basin and 9-11-2001. They do not want Americans to grasp what this Grand Chessboard fiasco was really about.   China will get the pipeline done from Gwadar Pakistan, through that nation and into China long before the US will ever control a pipeline across Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and to the sea through Pakistan. They could go due south, but then they would have to change the rhetoric and hostile actions towards Iran.   Washington DC still does not want the American Sheeple and Mushrooms to figure out that 9-11 was indeed an inside job to create the excuse to go after a 'pipeline too far' and we still have not built that pipeline. Yes, for the 10th Anniversary of September 11, 2001, let us no longer refer to it as 'Ground Zero'. Let us call it what it is ­ prima facea evidence of the sheer stupidity of those who call themselves leaders in America, especially in Washington, DC. It was a poisonous snake biting itself to justify the inexcusable. That in a nutshell sums up 9-11-2001, so let's quit calling it a target of non-existent terrorists and focus on the real home-grown terrorists that did it. If you have to emote over 19 non-existent Islamic hijackers, try emoting for the nation that killed itself, just like suicide. Weep that the American Dream was killed by Americans.   Trillions of dollars down the drain and nothing to show for it except the dead and maimed US soldiers and a nation being crushed under its own debt. They may have to add a new word to the lexicon because bankruptcy just does not fully describe the level of brazen war criminal conduct of the US government since 9-11 and how fast they have pushed the largest economy in the world into bankruptcy and oblivion. They lost, they lost the day they dreamed it up and that was way before they launched it.   The US credit rating of AAA is now in jeopardy, as the world comes to learn the hard way that 'the good faith and credit of the United States of America' has become a cruel mockery of hollow and shallow words. Most of the world clearly sees that the US Constitution and the very laws Congress has enacted mean nothing to the arrogant in Washington, DC.   The Chilcote Report is pointing the finger of blame for Iraq squarely at Tony Blair, his lies, his secret deals with George W. Bush. That is a polite way at this time for the UK to call Tony Blair what he is ­ a war criminal and a liar. By extension, that includes the US and its leadership, too. However, I for one am not holding my breath for most Americans to look in the mirror and come to that admission of fact. To fully come to grips that what has happened over the past 10 years is the US being the terrorist, being the war criminal, and thumping its chest about it while engaged in genocide.   The US was not defending America, nor was it honest in its dealings with others. The US was attempting to bludgeon its way back into the #1 position after having lost it due to the incredibly inept, incompetent leaders that Americans elect to office.   Of course, the UK economy is now in shambles, too, thanks to George W Bush and Tony Blair. If there is a moral to the story it is that liars never win. What little hope that Mr. Barack 'Barky' Hussein Obama was a vote for change got lost in pretense and hubris before he was even sworn into office. I knew GHWB, Clinton and GW sucked and exactly why, but this moron in the Oval Office now has taken the trophy as the most pathetic president in the history of the US. Out of a sense of civility, I do not write what I truly think about the past 4 US presidents.   I still want to see the true birth certificate so I guess that makes me a 'birther'. I do not think he is even entitled to be President of the United States and his incompetence and arrogance proves he is not remotely worthy of the office.   There might need to be a new word to replace embarrassment as to how truly pathetic Barky is as president.   I am one American who left for cause. Looking back in through the dirty windows of America brings me no pleasure whatsoever. The nation I grew up in, loved, risked my life for is dead, gone, and stinking up the rest of the world with its continuing efforts to reignite the greatness that is also long since dead.   Gone are the days in America where the true definition of power was the humble grace and dignity of those we elected to lead us.   The road ahead for America is extremely rough. I do not think most Americans are prepared to deal with the hardships headed their way because they do not pay attention, they do not elect the right people and when things go wrong, they do not stand up and do something about it. Being lazy and complacent does not equal survival skills or greatness. Being led by such incompetence is sheer madness and destined for tyranny and failure.   That is what a democracy is all about; fix failed leadership but Americans have apparently lost that ability, too.   It is as if most Americans are waiting for their deliverance and salvation just as they do for the pizza boy to ring the doorbell and deliver instant supper so they do not miss anything on TV. It will be a long wait in vain for any American fool enough to believe that DC has any answers, any deliverance, or any salvation to offer you, or any compassion for the plight they created for you.   Right before your very eyes the 'too big to fail' myth is being shown as an illusion and a delusion. The United States is failing.   Buckle up! The ass-kicking that the US has labored for almost 5 decades to get is inbound like a nightmare of a bad storm.