991 Made In U.S.E.

991 Made in U.S.E.

The United States of Europe is a flop.  And since the United States of America is following its lead, what can we expect over here?

The states of the US united around principles.  The states of the EU are uniting around money and that doesn’t work.

Well, maybe that’s not entirely true.  The EU states seem also to be coalescing around one principle -- a wrong headed one, austerity.  While it’s true you can’t spend yourself out of debt, you also can’t belt-tighten your way to prosperity.

Iberia is in trouble.  Ireland (the austerity capital of western Europe) is in trouble.  Greece is that circle of water you see circling down the ...um... sink, to be polite about it.  They haven’t yet understood over there (or over here) that austerity doesn’t work.  Not when it produces a 20% unemployment rate.  

It’s nice to be able to cross “national” borders at will and with minimal paperwork.  But that’s the only advantage to the EU, and that’s only an advantage to business and tourism.  They don’t need a “European Union” to do that.

What they also don’t need is the fake currency, the Euro, which really is nothing but the Deutsche Mark wrapped in a coat of many colors.  Guys, you don’t make a country out of a continent by taking down border crossings, inventing a court no one listens to and printing monopoly money.

This is a time that should be (Deutsche) marked by spending, even if the borrowing rates are sky high.  Don’t worry about your grandchildren having to repay the debt.  If they don’t incur it, the grandchildren will have much more to worry about than debt service.  Like where to get a loaf of bread and how to pay for it -- or heating their live-in refrigerator boxes during those freezing USE winters.


Shrapnel:

--Larry King coming back to TV... sort of... with an internet-  only interview show.  Says he misses his daily grind, as do many viewers.  Wish CNN would take him back and get rid of the stuffy Brit twit who replaced him and who no one watches more than once... or should.

--Remember how Gingrich and others on the right kept saying Bush wasn’t responsible for the previous round of gasoline price increases?  They told us no President can control that kind of thing. These same people are now blaming Obama for the current gasoline price increases and we have them on tape saying both things.

--A belated piece of news that will interest fans of the late Chet Atkins:  We note with sadness the death of Paul Yandell, guitar session man, player with every big name in country music and designer of guitars for Gretsch.  Paul was Atkins’ right hand man for many years and carrier of his legacy with grace and warmth. Yandell (pronounced YAND ell) was 76.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2012