Conservative Refocus

By Barry Secrest

As the world watches on with fascinated dread--in much the same way as viewing a train wreck--we can begin to now see where European Socialism is headed.  However, a wounded, yet still strong America, also continues to fight its way through a long stem of financial upheaval even as it vears towards a more Socialistic system.  Many have called the slow to get off the ground US recovery a "jobless recovery," which seems to bely the word "recovery" as it has been historically used.  The reasons for the continued "starting and stalling" within the economy can most likely be traced to a leadership that is often disdainful of private industry, but then we must also look to an 18 month zealous pursuit of damaging legislation that has more often than not stymied the confidence that industry so badly needs during times of upheaval.

For instance, a recent report from Price-Waterhouse-Coopers revealed what is expected to be a jump in health insurance premiums to the tune of as much as 20% in 2011.  The report then made a giant leap in its assumption that the increase has nothing to do with the new health law while businesses groan under the ever-increasing weight of financial difficulty.  Meanwhile, President Obama recently came out swinging in his "dire warning" to insurance companies that "gouging" in the form of rate increases would not be tolerated.  Even though the health measures put into place by the new law require companies to carry higher claims reserves and do away with many of the pre-existing limitations that allowed for more accurate rate making, among a host of other measures.  How can rates not go up would be the logical question?

Meanwhile, the nation's housing market has seen bad news followed by worse as new home sales have declined by a remarkable 33%--the worst slide since 1963.  America is now running low on homes, even though an estimated 7 million homes stand empty.  How can this be?  Perhaps sellers are waiting for prices to climb back up or maybe the bank regulators are, typically, overreacting to the government-magnified problems which led to the financial crisis.  Most likely it is a combination of these two factors among a host of others.

Obama Continues to Spin Spending

But even more bizzarly, President Obama continues to push both American and European legislators to spend, spend, spend and yet both have now seemingly hit the brakes as Europe drowns in debt and American Legislators drown in Red November angst--in addition to an American sea of red ink.  Most Americans see the Government's devil-may-care spending spree as a ticket to financial oblivion, and Obama has, no doubt, lost much of his moxy as his poll numbers--i.e. power--continues a badly needed slide in order to further weaken his legislative backing.

In other "bad news," more than 90 US banks missed a May 17 bail-out repayment, which indicates an increasing number of lenders are finding it difficult to meet their obligations.  This while former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan called for a "tectonic shift" in Federal Fiscal policy due to a misperception of US borrowing capacity as being greater than it actually is.  He also indicated that current long-term bond yields are masking America's debt problem warning that sudden long-term rate increases could make America's 30 year debt load difficult if not impossible to meet in real terms.  Greenspan went on to draw a direct comparison between the the US and Greece by further stating that the analogies between the two countries are, indeed, valid, which sets the stage for a serious response to immediately make efforts to mitigate the problem.

Almost as an exclamation point to Greenspan's warnings, Deutsche Bank later released a report which indicates that the financial conditions within the US have actually worsened in the last few quarters, despite what the White House and the mainstream media have reported.  Deutsche Bank's Peter Hooper further stated that increased financial market stress has actually pushed the US financial variables index from the US monetary policy forum to a position which is exactly halfway backward to America's financial position immediately after the financial meltdown.

It's Not Easy Being Green

All of this while the President's efforts to move America away from fossil fuels to green energy were seemingly hyper-motivated as an opportunity presented itself in the form of the Gulf Spill crisis.  Obama very soon after called a moratorium on deep water drilling and halted future permits which was later knocked down by a Federal Judge.  The Administration has now sought to circumvent this judgement by restating a moratorium which bypasses the Judge's ruling, however the Judge has indicated that he would not lift his stay based upon the circumvention efforts by Salazar and the Administration.

Reports have later resurfaced in which Obama had earlier stated a need for $ 7 dollar per gallon gasoline in order to further enhance the push away from fossil fuels. The President's efforts in the Gulf have created the possibility of of severe market shortfalls which could dramatically increase the cost of fuel to Americans--and even the world--when neither can afford such increases in energy as the world's economic crisis deepens.  China has depegged its Yuan attachment to the US dollar and Angela Merkel of Germany scolded Obama who had made efforts to also increase European spending in order to stimulate Europe "as he has in America."

Even China is now seeing its own string of difficulties while pushing its economic stimulus plans, however the Eurozone, which seems to be the US Media's cause ' de' celebre, now faces a new set of crippling factors.  The Union was launched in 1999 and is "officially" made up of  Member Nations who both trade in the "Euro", (the European Union common currency) and are allowed to move about within the various member countries--much as in the United States.  Although a number of other European Nations consider themselves "loosely" as members--some have opted out of adopting the Euro and continue their own free floating currency.  The full Members were inspired by a need to both compete with other large economies, but also to allow member Nations to work together to aid each other's respective economies.  In addition, the ability to access a  massive "Central Bank" or ECB could only aid their respective economies.  The only problem being that each country must maintain its essential sovereignity and therefore its own budgets, local economy and especially governing system.

The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side

In addition, each has to meet certain financial criteria going in order to be accepted into the "Eurozone Club."  Great Britain, as is so often the case with the wise Brits, demurred at the thought of being a "complete" member of this particular club--not withstanding the fact that the British Pound has always been a fairly strong player within the world economy.

The Country of Greece, which was the first crack to appear in the Eurozone's wall, has now found itself foundering in a Sea of Debt.  This debt was brought on in main due to Greece's system of Socialism which seems to inspire much of its citizens to strike when they feel that the State is not Nannying them enough or is charging too much in taxation.  In fact, the violence that the country has seen is due in large part to the cutbacks that the Greek Government has instated in order to impress the Eurozone federation enough to both allow Greece to remain a member, as well as hoping the Greek leaders could inspire a bail-out by Eurozone Leadership--which now seems to have worked.

The avowed Socialist Government of Greece is dominated by a Party known as the "Panhellinic Socialist Movement," which in its earlier iterations, was known as the Social Democratic Party.  Its chief rival, the New Democracy Party, is a center-right  Greek political party made up mostly of moderates whom might bear a strong resemblance to the left-of-center Democrats of the US.  The  remaining parties, which total better than 20 separate political groups, run the gamut, but most seem to fall squarely in the Marxist corner.

Those of Communist bent--being expert at lazily draining an economy of funds--explains the normal Greek retirement age of a mere 53 years, despite having a gross domestic product that barely rivals any one of a number of larger cities all over the world at $400 Billion.  Such is the wasteful sloth of Greek Government, and being of large concern as to the pending IMF loan, prompted Eurozone Officials to request an official count regarding the total number of employees who work for the Greek government.  Greek officials responded that they were not sure and would have to get back to them, union prescribed break time no doubt.

Can You Take Me Higher...to a Place Where Blind Men "See"

As with any purely Socialist State, the realm of higher eduction belongs solely to the Greek government, which supposedly does not allow for other private institutions to offer higher education.  Consequently, there is a vast waiting line of students who are turned down every year.  As a result, despite having a population of only 12 million people, Greece resultantly ranks fourth in the world at the number of students who must seek education abroad.  Further, both the Greek military conscription, which mandatorily drafts every male at age of 18,  and Greek media, which is operated by a government "Ministry of Information," point to typical authoritarian schemes at command and control of virtually every detail of life.

The Greek medical system, also being a single payer system, is reportedly dominated and controlled by party affiliation rather than merit, which will then dictate a decidely poor overall system of medicine.  In fact, despite having a "total care" system, the number of Greek Citizens with healthcare coverage is roughly equivalent to the number of US Citizens at 83%, which is beyond shocking when one notes that the US has a population over 2500 per cent or 25 times Greece's population at around 310 million--sans illegals.

Isn't it fascinating that a system that is designed as a "Liberal's Dream" is also the focal point of extreme civic violence, unrest and poverty?  The deprevations that the country has seen thus far are due in large part to the cutbacks or "austerity measures" that the Greek government has instated on both its government workers and Unions in order to inspire a bail-out by Eurozone Leadership--which now seems to have worked--at least for a short time.

Germany's main paper, Bild, has even labeled the German people as "schmucks" for naively taking part in the bailout of Greece--to which we can only point out that at least they are supporting a member of their Economic Union.  Many in America are still puzzling over the fact that the US schmuckishly granted Greece a sum that could approach $65 Billion in support of a quasi-Communist government which has long been slated to fail--only to have Greece threaten lawsuits against the US due to the financial meltdown.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

This naturally will lead one to wonder how a country gets to the point where Greece is?  One need look no further than the US and where we are now when we view the extreme deficits we have been incurring along with all of the negative trends as described above.  In fact, a typical government, by using various crises and setbacks as leverage to gain control within a particular sector, can eventually dominate a free market society by small incremental measure.

This, once again, can be seen in the US as the takeover of car manufacturers, expunction of many car dealers,  healthcare and certain banks, as well as the eventual decimation of private health insurance as we know it.  In addition, appointing various governmental radicals into positions of sensitive authority will also help ease various controls into an Authoritarian stance.

The Government of Greece appears to be the model by which US Democrats seem to be aiming for regarding our own system of Governance even as it has nearly brought to ruin the European Union.  In fact, the Democrats in the US Congress recently indicated that the budget for 2010 would "not be passed"or more accurately would be" cancelled" in an effort to draw away criticism from spending due to the upcoming November elections and an already outraged populace.

Ultimately, the US may be next in line for an even worse financial meltdown if action is not immediately taken to freeze  spending, facilitate growth by not allowing the Bush tax breaks to sunset in 2011, and repeal the healthcare law which is no less of a financial disaster than the Gulf Spill in its overall effects.

*Portions of this article were excerpted from an earlier article by Barry called "Greece is the Word"