Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Cyprus – Yet Another Cautionary Example

 
My progressive friends have fallen for Paul Krugman – the Keynesian socialist – who maintains two outrageous positions:
 
1.     The best way to achieve the progressive agenda is to have government spend the nation into fiscal catastrophe.  At that point Americans will surely adopt the solutions chosen in Europe – or perhaps even Venezuela.
 
2.      Deficits do not matter.  We are the world currency;  we can print money forever;  these conditions will always prevail.  Ya know, like housing prices will never decline.
 
That otherwise intelligent people listen to this crap is exactly the same condition as my many friends who find Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck credible. 
 
We’re not Greece my lefty friends tell me.  OK, but how did Greece become Greece?
 
Now if you haven’t paid attention to the latest Euro blowup in Cyprus, you should.
 
Cyprus Bailout Incites Turmoil as Blame Flies
By James Kanter, Nicholas Kulish and Andrew Higgins
NYT:  March 18, 2013
 
In case you don’t read the column, Cyprus is bankrupt and the EU has decided – practically overnight – that the solution is to “tax” the savings account of every bank depositor in the nation.  If the Cyprus government refuses, then Brussels won’t bailout the country and real chaos will ensue – yes, savers could lose everything in a national default.
 
·         How did Cyrus get to this point where the debt is too big to service?  [Please.  Spare me the drivel.  Cyrus spent more than it earned;  a lot more;  and over an extended period of time.]
 
·         Who is expected to pay down the debt;  in this case;  in every case;  in every nation?  The answer is always the working middle class.
 
·         Can government suddenly seize part of your savings in accounts guaranteed safe by the government?  Not in America, right?  If the alternative is chaos, you better believe it.
 
·         Is it people with savings accounts that caused the problem?
 
·         What will be the result of closing the Cyprian banks and proposing this “solution”?  Capital will flee.  Collapse will be more certain.  Recovery that much more distant.
 
·         Who thought of this awful thing?  It was European “capitalists” and the IMF.  But it can’t happen here.
 
So, back to Paul Krugman and the foolish folks who buy the argument that America is exempt from Economics 101.  Did you notice the contradiction in the Krugman rules?  America will never go bankrupt he says.  But his plan is to plunge the nation in crisis so that we’ll finally “do the right things”.  Hmmm …
 
Personally, I think most progressives are just dumb.  They’re like the Michele Bachman and Ron Paul fans, they mean no harm, they’re just dumb – they drank their team’s kool-aid.  Krugman however is a smart pinko-commie with an agenda and a growing following of people who should know better.  I realize that Republicans make it easy for this fringe looney to look sensible by comparison.  But never forget that these people will not only squander all the golden eggs, they’ll happily eat the golden goose as well.
 
Want more?  Look at Brook’s evaluation of the budget produced by the Congressional Progressive Caucus last week.
 
The Progressive Shift
By David Brooks
NYT:  March 18, 2013

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