Comments on: Europes Lesson: Overspending Is Not The Answer

By: 1horamenos

1horamenos — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:42:37 +0000

In general, I agree with Angela Merkel. What we are trying in the European Union is to maintain the welfare state spending as little as possible. And we proved we can do it. In Spain we had budget surplus without having to remove any social services like healthcare, education or universities. And we hope to have it back when this crisis ends.

Greetings!
PD: Sorry for my english.

By: Avg. Joe

Avg. Joe — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:00:37 +0000

To Ms. Merkel: Thank you for not bowing to the Village Idiot of the United States, and for holding your ground. I’m sorry you have to endure this stupidity, but it seems that there are a lot of celebrity types here in the US that were able to get this moron into office. Thanks for being the voice of reason when it comes to spending programs. be careful to not get Germany into the same mess Obama is creating for us in the US. Don’t worry, we’ll be rid of this rookie soon enough.

By: barker13

barker13 — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 11:37:52 +0000

Re: Realist; 6:22 PM — What’s your point…??? Seriously… I’m not quite sure what to make of your post.

http://treasury.worldbank.org/Services/Capital+Markets/News+for+Investors/WorldBankissuesitsFirstEuro-denominatedBenchmarkGlobalBond.html

http://www.euractiv.com/en/euro/euro-replace-dollar-world-reserve-currency/article-171351

http://zambianchronicle.com/2007/09/19/greenspan-says-euro-could-replace-dollar/

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/07/will-the-euro-r.html?cid=151841043

…and so on and so on and so on…

Realist, you ARE aware that the Euro as paper currency is less than a decade old… right? And already commodities (say oil) which used to be strictly dollar denominated are now joint denominated.

(*SHRUG*)

You do realize that the Bush administration’s goal regarding the dollar (which they succeeded at) was to lower it and that Obama’s policies are an even more proactive, aggressive, deliberate attack on the dollar (which will lead to stagflation by mid-2010 at the latest)… don’t you?

Again… what was your point in your 6:22 PM post?

(Just curious.)

BILL

By: Realist

Realist — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:22:26 +0000

Remember when people thought the Euro was going to replace the dollar as the global standard? Ha ha.

By: barker13

barker13 — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:46:37 +0000

Re: WeymouthJones; 11:29 PM --

"...assimilation is not as important as it once was to those who immigrate. Immigration, IMO..."

Fair enough. But to a nationalist such as myself, assimilation is extremely important as connected to my view of the national interest.

(BTW... not sure if we're really disagreeing here; we seem to simply be placing emphasis upon key points.)

(BTW #2... excellent post!)

(*WINK*)

BILL

By: barker13

barker13 — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:36:16 +0000

Re: Dendup; 1:35 PM -- Thanks for following up on my advice to Sinz to do a bit of research. (*SMILE*)

And fine... you choose to provide a link to a critique of Huntington. As I wrote, "I'm not claiming all studies agree," nor, as I also wrote, is this "a black or white issue."

I have my views. You have yours. Sinz has his (or hers?)... (*SMILE*) My point was - and is - that I wasn't just talking out my butt... that there's plenty of evidence I can point to buttressing my view. I leave it to others to sift through the evidence... but the key to doing this in a reasonable and rational manner is to actually do the sifting.

(*CHUCKLE*)

Oh... and yes... I freely cop to my BLOG POSTS in the COMMENTS SECTION rarely being as... er... coherent... as Dr. Ceaser's Heritage Foundation white papers.

(*WINK*)

That said, Dendup, reading Ceaser's piece without first being familiar (having read) Huntington's hypothesis, research, analysis, and conclusions as outlined by... er... Huntington...

(*HUGE FRIGG'N GRIN*)

Well... you get the point.

(*CHUCKLE*)

I'm more than willing to take this thread off course a bit and discuss Ceaser's critique with you, but before we do...

SINZ...??? YOU THERE, BUD...??? Any thoughts...???

BILL

By: Bulldoglover100

Bulldoglover100 — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:59:06 +0000

Actually a fancy way to fib here. This is not what was said, it has been distorted to further the political desires of Jurgen. IF one wants to educate theirself on the actual facts regarding the G20 they can do so at many sites on the net that reported it acuratly.
Shame on you Jurgen, try telling people the truth even when it isn’t what you want. People will respect you more if you do.

By: WeymouthJones

WeymouthJones — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:29:39 +0000

My comments were focused on macro-economic policy and what delivers growth better: investment or government. Immigration is always a challenging subject because assimilation is not as important as it once was to those who immigrate. Immigration, IMO, is not really the root of the economic crisis we are in. In can be a real booby trap if you step on the mine that the opposition places before you.
Huntington is also books like Political Order in Changing Societies which I would recommend on understanding how different nations have chosen democratic or totalitarian states.
I think that Administration is fascinated with social-democracy because it has often been a talisman held before academics in US Universities. Social Democracy was essentially a bargain between the European ruling elite and the “people” after WWI because the ruling party had sent millions to their deaths and the only way to stop a red wave was to buy the masses off with scalable/managable economic redistribution. The US has never been faced with such a threat.
I have lived and still pay taxes in three countries that have varying levels of social democracy – most of my breathren from the Ivy League have never “gone local” because they would never give up the power and money that the US affords them. Once Americans realise that their choices in life will shrink, that they essentially will only own one car and it will not be that fancy and you can not leverage yourself, they will completely freak out!!! Obama power structure will never suffer from the results of this because they are “made” already and have been for some time. Politicians are the lowest common denominator of professional career choices because they want power and wealth but are afraid to gain these things in an honest way – in the market or in business. They need to be called out on that.

By: dendup

dendup — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:35:54 +0000

For a conservative critique of Huntington
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Thought/fp22.cfm

The section on Tradionalists lays out a bit more coherently barker13’s points.

Personally, I find the whole “forests of Germany” thing a bit bizarre and kind of a dead end for conservatives outside of Germany, and for them, well, they already tried it.

Each tribe has its narrative weaving together lineage and virture. The founding fathers found inspiration in the Iroquois system of gov’t. Surely we can look with a broader view as well.

By: sinz54

sinz54 — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:12:35 +0000

barker13: What evidence is there that Latin Americans who immigrate to America bring their “social baggage” with them? Mexicans don’t come to America to take siestas. They come to America because they’re willing to take low-wage jobs and work their butts off. In their work ethic, they’re more American than some native-born Americans.

The argument that immigrants bring undesirable “cultural baggage” was once used against the so-called “peddler Jews” from Eastern Europe and against the Chinese who came to work on the Transcontinental Railroad. And in those cases, it was just as wrong–and just as bigoted.

I would gladly lift ALL immigration quotas, and allow anyone to come to America provided they work to become American citizens, and swear allegiance to our Constitution. That’s the way it was in 1789, the way our Founding Fathers wanted it. As conservatives who uphold the “original intent of the Framers,” let’s remember that the Framers never wrote any immigration quotas into the Constitution.