Arkady's Thoughts

Below is by far the most honest and refreshing thing you will ever hear coming out of Europe.   Nigel Farage  of the UK Independence Party delivers a very passionate plea to stop the madness of the bailouts and slow down the path of inevitable destruction. There is not much to comment here other than "BRAVO".  This speech took place yesterday at the European Parliament at Strasbourg.   " Just who the hell do you think you people are.  You are very, very dangerous people indeed" P.S. Do observe the reactions of the other politicians in the chamber.   P.P.S.  I have nothing to do with the creepy Russian music

Ireland released a 140 page document outlining their plan for bringing their financial house in order. I do not claim to be an expert on Irish matters what so ever, but I do fancy their most unparliamentary procedures .  So why mention or write about it?  Because!  Ireland was one of the first countries in Europe to go down the path of austerity and as I wrote about last time, it did not work.  Of course the failures of Irish austerity have much more to do with the global increase in debt than anything else, but Ireland is also suffering from a very similar malaise affecting all civilized nations:  a giant federal government and the painfully flawed concept known as the welfare state.  Observe the highlights of the Irish plan, courtesy of RTE : * Public expenditure down €10bn, tax up €5bn * Irish bank shares see big falls * Corporation tax will remain at 12.5% (maintain the visible tax, raise the less obvious ones) * Social Welfare to b...

Hardly worth reiterating the obvious, but worth mentioning the subtle " Irish bailout " just because of the parties involved.  These parties I speak of, are of course the very same banks sitting on top of a massive central bank system that have been dispensing loans at a rate that nobody could have considered sustainable.  Yet beyond dealing with the problem of our banking system in America, Americans are now bailing out Irish banks.  Because a lot of the money is coming from an EU-IMF pool containing American tax dollars, it would be a crime not to mention the story . Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan needs to inject at least 5 billion euros ($6.8 billion) more cash into the country’s two biggest lenders immediately as part of Ireland’s international rescue, analysts said. Indeed.  Between the nationalization of Irish banks by the government and future potential IMF contributions to the ailing country, one has to wonder when any of this will end.  Of c...

The hits just keep on coming.  Another example illuminating the rapid disconnect between the ruling class and the subjugated is featured in today's USA Today's article: More federal workers' pay tops $150,000 . This is the second year in a row we are learning that the gap is widening between private and public pay, but the rate of increase is alarming, worse yet Obama has proposed to give a 1.4% increase across the board to 2.1 Million employees.  This becomes particularly difficult to digest considering that private wages are actually falling and real unemployment is somewhere between 'high' and 'way too damn high'. As always the entrenched liberals of Congress provide their wisdom: Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., says a pay freeze would unfairly scapegoat federal workers without addressing real budget problems. No words, especially when you consider the following: •Pay. The average federal salary has grown 33% faster than inflation since 2000. USA TODA...

Sometimes a short speech by a politician drives the point home better than pages and pages of angst and anger.  Here Rep. Bachmann delivers a crucial point.  If ObamaCare was intended to not only reduce the deficit (it will not), but also drive the overall costs of health care down - then why have so many waivers been issued?  Why is it that a special group can be exempt from the burdens of Government run care, but the least connected and least influential of us must bare the cost?   It clearly exposes the very fundamental flaw of an all powerful government - favoritism to a special interest group through it's sheer power.  This is precisely how the scope and size of Government grows and becomes entrenched, as now every single recipient of a waiver is no longer interested in opposing ObamaCare.  This is the exact same reason why a minimum of 30% of Americans will routinely vote for politicians promising more government spending , because th...

"That's it, America is the next Weimar Republic and we will print ourselves to death" says one.  "No, we are going to see another Great Depression deflationary event" says another.  "We will turn into Japan and have a multi-year malaise" says a third.   Among those that have escaped the clutches of Krugman and other hopelessly failed economists a debate rages.   Yet how can so many people be in virtual agreement over everything, but so strongly diverge over the outcome?   This is creating a lot of confusion for those starting to pay attention to things like the Federal Reserve, credit expansion, what *really* caused the housing market to collapse, true reasons behind the Great Depression and other hugely critical aspects of the economy and our history. Let us delve into this topic and lay out a course of where the economy might head in the next several years. Defining the terms Before we begin let us define the terms, because there is a good c...

Last time Europe and the European Union (EU) were in the spotlight revolved around Greece's spiraling inability to service it's debt.  I remember thinking back when the question of what to do with Greece that Europe only had one real option.  You see, Greece as it turns out not only lied about their accounting practices thereby making their entire entry into the EU questionable - but their finances really exposed a socialist government on the brink of a financial disaster.  But what really made the choice obvious, was precedent.  That is to say, if the collective European governments decide to burden the cost of Greece then any additional country falling in the same predicament would demand identical treatment.  Germany and other powerful economic of Europe had to tell Greece to leave the EU, go back to their currency and then take care of their debts and responsibility - declare bankruptcy if need be.  Why take American and European taxpayer money a...