The Greeks Deserve To be Humiliated

Greece has been on the edge of default for a few years and has been asking for and receiving bailouts in the form of loans to help them through a crisis of their own making.

The Greeks have a generous benefit system that allows workers to retire young and receive a hefty percentage of their retirement. Couple this with countless other programs that can’t be afforded and you get a crisis.

When Greece was bailed out it failed to take any reasonable austerity measures to get on a path to sustainability. It keeps showing up hat in hand wanting even more money.

The members of the European Union (EU) have been in tense negotiations and it is not happy to be asked to shell out more money to a country that seems intent on continuing on the same path that got it to the brink of disaster.

A new deal is in the works and many Greeks are unhappy with it. They claim it is harsh and requires them to do too much. They claim it is humiliating.

It should be humiliating. You have a system that can’t be sustained and you ask for money to help you when it collapses and ten you continue doing the same thing that got you there. You ask for more and more while continuing to refuse reforms.

Then you are forced to agree to harsh measures and you claim it is not right and humiliating.

It is humiliating and it should be. You should be ashamed that you are led by people who ran your country into the ground. You should be ashamed that you continue to suck the life out of your economy by raping the treasury of ever dwindling resources while continuing a life of early retirement and generous pensions.

Other countries are not happy with being forced to bail you out once again. And considering how dire your circumstances are you had better agree to the terms and get your act together.

Americans, pay attention because we are well on our way to a default and we will be like Greece before you know it.

And we too should feel ashamed and humiliated for many of the same reasons.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

US Has World’s Best Life Expectancy

I know it is hard to believe that the US has the best life expectancy in the world but it does and I will show how in just a moment. First, what is life expectancy?

Life expectancy is a statistical measure of how long a person will live. There are many factors like year of birth, current age, and sex but more developed nations have higher life expectancy (of course the information is only as good as the data provided).

As of 2012 the World Health Organization reports the US ranks 36th out of 193 nations with an overall expectancy of 79.8 years.

This is all wrong and the US is actually number one. No other nation can boast about having as many people alive that are over 112 years of age.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the United States has 6.5 MILLION people who are older than 112. This is according to the federal government’s own Social Security Administration. The SSA shows that 6.5 MILLION people in this nation are over 112 and a few thousand of the people have dates of birth that are prior to the US Civil War!

These 6.5 million SS numbers are active and being used each and every day for credit cards, purchases, loans, jobs, you name it. How in the name of all that is sacred could the US be 36th in the world when nearly 2% of its population is older than 112?

Now I know what you are thinking. You think that some evil doers have stolen these numbers and are using them illegally. If that is the case why does the government not go after the people using the numbers (or report them as inactive so they can’t be used)? They can track the numbers so they must know where the people using them are located and if they know where they are but have not gone after them then those folks must be using them legally, right?

Otherwise the government would have to admit that it is incapable of running this program and it is rife with fraud. That would unravel this idea that government can do it all and should run all aspects of our lives. They would never admit that, now would they?

I am sure the numbers are being used illegally but since our government has not put an end to this it must feel confident that these people are legit.

And since this has not been corrected the government must report these numbers to the WHO so our life expectancy rate can be corrected to show us the longest living people on the planet.

To do otherwise would admit incompetency and we know government can’t do that if it wants to take over every aspect of our lives.

One final thought. These are the same people who will be running your health care…

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

I Told You The UN Is Worthless

The UN Security Council met for three hours today to discuss the missile launch by North Korea. The United States and Japan are pushing for more sanctions but several other nations urge restraint so as to not hamper the fragile six party talks. It would appear to me that the talks (the diplomacy Obama desires) are not working since North Korea has tested nukes and now launched a missile in violation of UN Resolution. Russia, China, Libya, Uganda and Vietnam are urging restraint. These nations are certainly paragons of virtue and restraint.

The Diplomats are in agreement on “expressing concern” over the launch.

What kind of crap is that? I imagine this is what it sounded like behind those closed doors:

Japan and the US: We want action against North Korea. They violated the resolution.

Diplomats: We are going to express concern.

Japan and the US: Expressing concern is ineffective. We expressed concern before the launch.

Diplomats: If they do not respond to concern we will resort to scorn.

Japan and the US: The North Koreans are laughing at you.

Diplomats: If they laugh we will express grave concern.

Japan and the US: Are you people out of your minds? The NORKS will thumb their noses at you.

Diplomats: Then they will force us to become indignant. That will show them and if that does not stop them we will escalate to anxiety, agitation, anxiousness, apprehension, strain, stress, tension; alarm, anguish, consternation, discomfort, discomposure, dismay, distress, disturbance, edginess, and uneasiness in that order until they submit.

Japan and the US: You people are worthless and we should strap you to the next missile.

Diplomats: OK, now you have made us mad. We wish to express concern at your attitude.

Japan and the US: We should have shot the missile down.

Diplomats: Then we would have sanctioned you.

And on and on it goes. What a worthless bunch of do nothings. I have stated that sanctions are not likely to mean much but one would think that these people could at least have a united front. Instead, they are playing games and allowing five nations that have their own poor records to dictate the direction of the proceedings.

The US and Japan should tell them to come up with some kind of sanction and real fast or there will be a test of another missile to see if a Tomahawk can be guided into Kim Jong-il’s bedroom.

That would be a missile test I would pay to see.

Related:
al-Reuters

Big Dog

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