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Gradual insolvency about to speed up
The Orange County Register ^ | March 24, 2012 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 03/24/2012 1:33:16 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued

"We are headed for the most predictable economic crisis in history," says Paul Ryan. And he's right. But precisely because it's so predictable the political class has already discounted it. Which is why a plan for pie now and spinach later, maybe even two decades later, is the only real menu on the table. There's a famous exchange in Hemingway's "A Place In The Sun." Someone asks Mike Campbell, "How did you go bankrupt?" "Two ways," he replies. "Gradually, then suddenly." We've been going through the gradual phase so long, we're kinda used to it. But it's coming to an end, and what happens next will be the second way: sudden, and very bad.

By the way, that decline in the U.S./Australian exchange isn't the only one. Ten years ago the U.S. dollar was worth 1.6 Canadian; now it's at par. A decade ago, the dollar was worth over 10 Swedish Kroner, now 6.7; 1.8 Singapore dollars, now 1.2. I get asked with distressing frequency by Americans where I would recommend fleeing to. The reality is, given the dollar's decline over the past decade, that most Americans can no longer afford to flee to any place worth fleeing to. What's left is the non-flee option: taking a stand here, stopping the spendaholism, closing federal agencies, privatizing departments, block-granting to the states – not in 2040, but now. "Suddenly" is about to show up.

(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: marksteyn; steyn
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To: Michael Barnes

Someone else probably said it first but I have said it many times, voting in an American presidential election is like being strapped down in the back seat of a vehicle headed for a cliff with your only choice being which of two drunken drivers to put behind the wheel. I used to say the rats drive faster but between the rats and Romney even Soros says it doesn’t really matter.


21 posted on 03/24/2012 5:43:31 PM PDT by RipSawyer
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To: struggle

steyn is smart as a whip but what makes me doubt so much of what I hear him say is that his references to sex give Warren Buffet a run for his money.


22 posted on 03/24/2012 8:29:02 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (obamacare is an oxymoron.)
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To: Michael Barnes

Obama’s term has revealed the end run around the House’s budgetary control. No federal budget, and you can spend as much as you want.
As Dave Ramsey says, a budget is telling the money where to go instead of wondering where it went. Without a budget, even a chronically overspending government totally blows away our money.


23 posted on 03/24/2012 8:40:35 PM PDT by tbw2
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To: Clintonfatigued

Hedged money in Canada and Australia two years ago expecting this. Should have done more.


24 posted on 03/24/2012 9:01:35 PM PDT by FastCoyote (I am intolerant of the intolerable.)
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To: Leisler

“Not a penny of the debt will ever be paid off. “

Yup, we are too far gone. Except we won’t be in just an inflationary spiral, but a Biflationary Depression.
http://www.futurnamics.com/biflation.php


25 posted on 03/24/2012 9:04:53 PM PDT by FastCoyote (I am intolerant of the intolerable.)
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To: Soul of the South

The outcome always matters, particularly when it comes to court appointments.


26 posted on 03/24/2012 9:26:08 PM PDT by El Kabong1
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To: El Kabong1
The outcome always matters, particularly when it comes to court appointments.

Consider Governor Romney's court appointments while Governor of Massachusetts.

27 posted on 03/24/2012 10:02:57 PM PDT by Praxeologue
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To: Kenny500c
Re: Sun Also Rises

Yes, noticed that instantly.

Feels kind of cool to correct Mark Steyn on a literary issue.

Wish I knew how to correct his economic analysis, which is terrifyingly accurate.

28 posted on 03/24/2012 11:44:37 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: beelzepug
Hemingway did write that quote.

It's in “The Sun Also Rises.”

Steyn did get the book title wrong, as you pointed out.

29 posted on 03/24/2012 11:52:04 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: El Kabong1

“The outcome always matters, particularly when it comes to court appointments.”

True. However, Romney’s track record as governor suggests he would be willing to appoint a moderate to liberal judge to the court. Based on age the Ginsberg, Kennedy, Breyer, and Scalia seats could become vacant during the next term, if not sooner. A Romney or Obama appointment of a liberal to the Scalia or Kennedy seats would permanently tilt the balance of the court. Remember it was George H. W. Bush who gave us David Souter. His son tried to appoint Harriet Myers to the court. I don’t see Romney appointing another Scalia, Alito, Roberts or Thomas to the high court under any circumstance.


30 posted on 03/25/2012 4:58:53 AM PDT by Soul of the South (When times are tough the tough get going.)
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To: El Kabong1

Yes, it’s far better to go Thelma-and-Louise at 80 mph than to go at 100 mph.


31 posted on 03/25/2012 3:34:47 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: paratrooper82
Is this the same Congressman Paul Ryan who is actively working to get RINO’s elected to the U.S. Senate and against Tea Party candidates?

Yep. And he's (Paul) the real RINO.

Keep ya knees in the breeze, paratrooper82!



Where there's a shell, there's a way.

25 years ago, we had Ronald Reagan, Johnny Cash, and Bob Hope.
Today we have Obama, no cash, and no hope!

If you can't appreciate the pure beauty of the violin after hearing this, something's wrong with your ears.

Or you can get raw with these strings.

How about this gamechanger from America's Got Talent (which they SHOULD have won).

And finally, this, dedicated to the one and only rdb2, whose eyes are growing dim.

Either way, the violin is sweet yet LETHAL.

Do it!

32 posted on 03/25/2012 3:52:09 PM PDT by rdb3 (If you were tried in court for being a Christian, is there enough evidence to convict you?)
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