Washington frustrates me. The entire town is based on legalized corruption as an unworthy elite figure out new ways of accumulating unearned wealth by skimming money from the nation’s producers.
But one thing that especially irks me is the way people focus on the trees and forget about the forest. Politicians and journalists are now engaged in an inside-baseball game of analyzing every twist and turn of the fiscal cliff negotiations.
That’s all fine and well, but perhaps it would be a good idea to talk about the need to fix the real crisis of excessive spending instead of arguing about how fast we should be traveling in the wrong direction.
And let’s not delude ourselves. In the absence of real entitlement reform, the United States is doomed to repeat Europe’s mistakes.
And how are things going in Europe? Well, I’m glad you ask. Let’s look at some excerpts from an Associated Press report.
Another month, another record unemployment rate for the economy of the 17 European Union countries that use the euro. Figures released Friday by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, showed that the recession in the eurozone pushed unemployment up in the currency bloc to 11.7 percent in October, the highest level since the introduction of the euro in 1999. …Eurostat found that 18.7 million people were out of work across the eurozone, an increase of 173,000 on the previous month and 2.2 million higher than the year before. The wider 27-nation EU that includes non-euro countries such as Britain and Poland had an unemployment rate of 10.7 percent in October and a total of 25.9 million out of work. …”Talk of a `lost generation’ of young people now looks like an alarming possibility,” said Andrea Broughton, principal research fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies.
In other words, we may complain about America’s miserable track record on jobs during the Obama years, but at some point in the future we may someday look back on 8 percent unemployment as good news.
Unfortunately, the crowd in Washington doesn’t want to acknowledge that the real problem is spending. And I’m particularly irked (but not surprised) that Republicans now seem willing to go along with Obama even though they won this fight back in 2010 when they didn’t control the House and had fewer seats in the Senate. Here’s what I said to one of the local DC stations.
I realize I’m sounding glum, so let’s close out this post with a couple of amusing cartoons about America’s European future.
I’ve already shared the “European Lemming” cartoon. This one has the same theme.
Other Eric Allie cartoons can be enjoyed here, here , here, here, here, and here.
And here another cartoon with the same theme.
If you like this Bok cartoon, some of my other favorites can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
If you still haven’t cheered up, this bit of Dave Barry humor about the European fiscal crisis is a classic, and I’d also recommend this bit of unintentional satire.
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[…] P.P.P.S. Yet most European nations are traveling in the opposite direction. Even more absurd, Obama wants to copy their failures, as captured by these cartoons from Michael Ramirez, Glenn Foden, Eric Allie and Chip Bok. […]
[…] P.P.P.S. Yet most European nations are traveling in the opposite direction. Even more absurd, Obama wants to copy their failures, as captured by these cartoons from Michael Ramirez, Glenn Foden, Eric Allie and Chip Bok. […]
[…] Why Are Republicans Willing to Help Obama Make America More Like Europe When the Welfare State Is C… […]
We need more Republicans like Rand Paul!!!!!
[…] Why Are Republicans Willing to Help Obama Make America More Like Europe When the Welfare State Is C… […]
[…] If I haven’t exhausted your interest in economic cartoons, I also recommend this Henry Payne classic about Obama and Greece, a first-rate cartoon on Keynesian stimulus by Scott Stantis, and this Eric Allie iceberg cartoon. […]
[…] If I haven’t exhausted your interest in economic cartoons, I also recommend this Henry Payne classic about Obama and Greece, a first-rate cartoon on Keynesian stimulus by Scott Stantis, and this Eric Allie iceberg cartoon. […]
[…] If I haven’t exhausted your interest in economic cartoons, I also recommend this Henry Payne classic about Obama and Greece, a first-rate cartoon on Keynesian stimulus by Scott Stantis, and this Eric Allie iceberg cartoon. […]
[…] Eric Allie – More than anyone else, he shows with this cartoon and this cartoon how even well-intentioned government goes awry. And the teetering-on-the-edge-of-the-cliff cartoon accurately shows Obama’s mindset on fiscal policy. If forced to choose, though, I’ll go with this forward-to-the-iceberg cartoon. […]
[…] Why Are Republicans Willing to Help Obama Make America More Like Europe When the Welfare State Is C… […]
[…] Eric Allie – More than anyone else, he shows with this cartoon and this cartoon how even well-intentioned government goes awry. And the teetering-on-the-edge-of-the-cliff cartoon accurately shows Obama’s mindset on fiscal policy. If forced to choose, though, I’ll go with this forward-to-the-iceberg cartoon. […]
[…] But Michael Ramirez is unmatched. Here’s his latest gem, making fun of gullible and brainless Republicans. […]
[…] Why Are Republicans Willing to Help Obama Make America More Like Europe When the Welfare State Is C… […]
Reblogged this on The Life in Exile.
The Rahn curve contains the relentless compounding of prosperity, or lack thereof. That is by far the overriding determinant of prosperity. Everything else is more or less a suicidal distraction for the lemmings who saw hope in European motivational levels and collective management of the economy by majority.
It’s too late now. The deer are looking at the headlights. Euro trajectory to decline is the inevitable outcome. After you live a few years of cozy government care package warmth by burning the furniture, save some energy for procuring a life boat.
[…] Why Are Republicans Willing to Help Obama Make America More Like Europe When the Welfare State Is Co… Excerpt: […]
Washington frustrates me. The entire town is based on legalized corruption as an unworthy elite figure out new ways of accumulating unearned wealth by skimming money from the nation’s producers.
Sentence of the year.
If I had any wits at all the Dave Barry link would make me cry, not laugh.