Posted on 11/14/2012 9:15:17 PM PST by bruinbirdman
The violent protests and strikes that flared up across the European Union on Wednesday are a sign of things to come as frustration grows over austerity measures and Europe’s recession peaks.
A popular backlash is building against cuts to public services and the “internal devaluation” policies that have targeted wages and Europe’s high levels of social protection with the aim of restoring competitiveness to the EU’s highly indebted economies.
This year unemployment is expected to reach record levels of more than 11pc in the eurozone and 10.5pc in the EU. Taking a step away from the statistics, it means that more than 25m Europeans will be unemployed this Christmas.
It is going to get worse. EU forecasts predict that joblessness rates will climb even further, hitting 11pc in the EU and 12pc in 2013. In Greece, unemployment is 23.6pc, and 54pc among young people. One thousand Greeks are losing their jobs every day.
In Spain, once an EU pin-up for growth and a country that was not in debt before the banking crisis, youth unemployment has hit 55pc and the recession is still deepening. Tens of millions of Europeans blame austerity for suppressing demand and acting as a dampener on growth at a time of economic recession triggered by the financial crisis.
The deadly combination of slowdown plus austerity, compounded by economic imbalances built into the EU’s single currency, has pushed countries, especially the southern European economies at the heart of the eurozone debt storm, into what looks like a deep and protracted slump.
The groundswell feeling of injustice is heightened
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
And all the Obendover bots here sing him praises that he’s won re-election and will usher in their Socialist utopia, totally ignorant and so far removed from reality, they don’t recognize THIS is what the US is facing.
This is why we are unlikely to see meaningful cuts to similar programs here... Riots in the streets would be just the start.
Despite the fact that social spending takes nearly every penny of Federal revenue... leaving National Defense and other Constitutional responsibilities relegated to begging for appropriations...
The elites over there know that the USA is going to face this. The only difference is that while this can (and very likely will) cause the USA to fall apart, they are ready over there with their plans for a “solution” to the “beneficial crisis” that they created, the USA being a casualty of it.
These people blame “austerity” for all their socialist problems, as if massive debt spending would improve the economy. These people are seriously warped.
I wish I could honestly say that I am surprised - but I can not.
Through out 2012 all of the European crises were resolved by ABSOLUTELY NOTHING !!!
It seems that today’s political class/rulers are unable to make any decision much less the hard ones.
Now, the world is facing a massive reset on multiple issues in multiple countries, including the US.
We have gotten to this level of overlapping crises by preventing minor crises. ??? All political systems have long and short term cycles - highs and lows. We have demanded our leaders/rulers to cut out the lows and to a large degree they have been successful and have failed. Instead of having a minor reset to reduce the pressures we have avoided the crises and the pressure has built up.
Now the pressures has gotten so bad that it will be explosively released in the near future.
I have yet to see entitlements have to beg for funds. They never get cut. Yet.
Bongo drums, protests, & unions can’t protect these fools from insolvency.
“The violent protests and strikes that flared up across the European Union on Wednesday are a sign of things to come as frustration grows over austerity measures and Europe’s recession peaks.”
OMG....seriously. I needed a good laugh and this jackhole has provided.
Firstly: how does this idiot know what the “peak” is?
Secondly: This is Europe he’s talking about. You know, THE Europe. The one where hundreds and hundreds of years of history defines “peaks of frustration” in terms of Germans casually tossing Jews in ovens. Millions of men dying in trenches. Revolutions in one nation becoming pointless destructive conquest in many others.
If I’m this guy’s editor and read “strikes” and “peaks”, the next words out of my mouth are “I’m here to help writers be better but, you’re obviously a hopeless frickin’ moron. Get your crap and get the hell out of here.”
Under The Obammunist and complicit Republicans, the welfare state is on automatic pilot.
The Obammunist submits no budget, congress cannot pass one.
So the federal budget is on automatic continuing resolution increase. Baseline+ budget is passed for four years. Remember the Congress did it before The Obammunist was inaugurated in 2009.
Federal debt limit debate is an act every six months but still passes.
The Obammunist and his socialist administration is perfectly happy to regulate and manupulate the budget it has. Congress can do nothing about the commie regulations and Obammunist veto.
yitbos
Obama Care will give them plenty to do creating cradle to grave regulations for eternity.
yitbos
“Eternity” won’t last long
Those true believers are willing to fight for their imaginary world more than many are willing to defend the real one.
I hate to interrupt a good antisocialism rant, but defense takes up 20% of federal spending, tied with Social Security as the costliest single program.
“These people blame ‘austerity’ for all their socialist problems, as if massive debt spending would improve the economy.”
Hey, people win Nobel prizes arguing that. It’s a perfect argument, since you can when things stay bad you can always say we didn’t spend enough.
I've a friend who is a financial counselor. He works with businesses who are deep in debt.
He advocates budgeting and cutting out unneeded expenses to get control of your spending. When people balk he says you can do it now which is a bit harder but allows you to get control of your financials and right your ship OR the unneeded spending will be cut when your business goes bankrupt. But of course ALL your spending ceases then except for those things the judge allows.
Bottom Line: There will be cuts and they will be meaningful, one way or another.
The Fed is monetizing the debt. This means they print more money and then use it to buy Government bonds. We are issuing bonds to pay for interest on the all the bonds we issued prior. Next cycle we will issue even more bonds to pay for the latest total of interest.
This is known as the death spiral in financial circles. The ONLY way to get out is to increase Income drastically and/or Cut spending drastically.
Where are we going to get the increased income to keep up with the Government issuing bonds? GDP would have to be unnaturally high. Some estimates say plus 6% for 10 years running to pay for all the unfunded mandates of Social Security, Obamacare, and Medicare/Medicaid. (Right now that cost is estimated at over 150 Trillion bucks)
Anyone who knows the history of GDP in the USA knows that 10 years straight of plus 6% is like drawing to an inside straight and succeeding 100 times in a row. Its possible, but it ain't the way to bet.
Further to get that kind of expansion you need to get rid of all the impediments on business and everyone of those are a result of the FEDgov meddling in the market.
Any of you remember that last time the Fedgov cut Fed Regs to the bone? Not gonna happen.
The federal budget is given over mostly to checks directly to people for entitlements. (Either checks to the recipients or checks to the people that work in the program that issues the checks to the recipients.) The cuts to the those checks are coming, one way or another and when they do the Obamaphoners are gonna hit the streets and get unruly. You can take that to the bank!
I hate to interrupt a good antisocialism rant, but defense takes up 20% of federal spending, tied with Social Security as the costliest single program.
Check again Medicare and Medicaid are by far the costliest entitlement.Defense and social security overruns together do not add up to the massive annual 900 billion dollar medicare/medicaid hole. Defense is not a redistributive entitlement payable to individuals.SS and medicaid are. Apples and oranges.
Can you see this picture on Wall St and many major cities in the not to distant future?
Europe helps explain why none of the Dims will support any cuts in spending. They know that it is their own base that will go on the rampage and have to be quelled if any “austerity” measures are implemented. They will be better served in their goal of despotism by taking us all into the dumpster first and then they can “quell” everyone equally.
Yes. Where would the money come from for the further nationalizing of medicine? On the fiscal cliff,...
IMO, most politically active folks are afraid of the $800 billion in spending cuts that should be happening next year and not so afraid of the $370 billion per year in scheduled tax hikes (expirations of both payroll tax cuts and other tax cuts roughly figured for about one year). Obama wants only the part of the tax cuts for the “rich” to expire (only $40 billion per year in revenues/debt, if those wealthy taxpayers don’t tighten up).
$800 billion in spending cuts would put a dent in the yearly deficit. $40 billion (or even $370 billion) in tax hikes would not, and would, of course, motivate at least some to further slow liquidity of recirculating debt (our agricultural and service “industry” economy, with government income recipients as majority customers).
I doubt that favored constituents or their Democrats and Republicans in Congress will want to go through with all of those spending cuts. The debt regime economic decline will continue, IMO. If it continues smoothly enough, we have time to be frugal, save and learn a few skills to get through poorer years.
The more severe “austerity measures” will happen, eventually. I wish that they would be done with only the needed spending cuts against useless offices and without the antithetical tax hikes, but they probably won’t.
Maybe not so much “change” ahead. As for “hope,” that’s too personal for politics, IMO. But then those romanticist socio-political tools (yet preferred as employees) who helped to break so many families were saying in their liberal arts, psych., soc. and other programs, “The personal is political.” Not me.
In some ways, we’ve been going down this road for 44 years. I wasn’t in Uncle Ho’s young American brothel over here, either. Members of that cheerleading section were too highbrow and stylish for sons of tradesmen.
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