The Ugly American

The idea of the Ugly American has been around for centuries. Perhaps it started in the early 1800s when we went after Barbary pirates, against the wishes of European powers. A book, followed by a movie, on the Ugly American was written in 1958. The theme was the way that US attempts to force themselves on other nations. When Obama visited the Organization of American States meeting, he was presented a book, written in the early 1970's, on the bad stuff that the US did in South America. The planning for 9/11 started around 1996.

And yet many Americans like to believe that Bush is to blame. Prior to Bush, according to these people, we were the shinning light on the hill, a beacon for all that is good. Even Amnesty International published an article bemoaning the decline, under Bush, of American values and goodness. Of course, I challenge anyone to find any favorable Amnesty International report on the US prior to 2001.

But now, under Obama, “American citizens are starting to feel like they’re Typhoid Mary,” and are no longer allowed to keep money in Swiss Banks.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a_8VwpO5m0WQ

Retirement Age

It should be a no-brainer that when the life expectancy increases from 62 (as it was in the US when Social Security started) to 79 as it is now in the US, the age for receiving a pension should go up. Social Security did go up slightly but not enough. And we have a real problem with pensions, especially public employee pensions.

First, military, police, and fire personnel got pensions at a rather young age. Maybe that made sense since there was a lower life expectancy for them anyway. But other public employees seem to be getting similar sweetheart deals. Teachers retiring at 50? What is the problem here. It is great that public employees are among the few that still get a pension but there needs to be a large increase in the retirement age. 70 is a better age. Or 75.
If you want to retire before than, save some money. Don't count on taxpayers subsidizing your retirement at 55, 60, 62, or earlier.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13900145&source=hptextfeature

Hope and Change

Why don't we get this stuff in the US? Der Spiegel compares Obama with Bush and Lawrence Summers as Bush's Cheney. Both Obama and Bush pursued policies with a religious zeal, and disregarded science and common sense.

The Obama Administration has made 5 errors on the economy. Obama's Myths:
1. The debt is not as bad as it may seem.
2. The current spending is OK since it is geared to reviving the economy.
3. When the crisis ends, borrowing will fall.
4. The US is borrowing from capital markets, such as the Chinese and Japanese
5. The additional borrowing is harmless and will not lead to increased inflation.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,632494,00.html

I just hope that when this experiment fails, people understand that it failed. But the people who write history will probably distort it.

Crop Circles Explained

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8118257.stm

And Australia being the world's leading supplier of opium is interesting also.

Health Care

Maybe Government run health care is good. We are having a problem with the high costs of public pensions, social security, and Medicare. If people would just die younger we would save $billions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPC6CqAFA4E

Drone Strike

It is beyond me why there is not more of a furor in this country about these drone strikes. The number of strikes have gone up in the past 6 months and another estimate is that 687 people have been killed, including 14 Al Qaeda militant. The remainding 673 are presumed innocent. Actually, all 687 are presumed innocent.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8115814.stm

Public Pensions

The public needs to learn more about public pensions. Few seem to care or understand how this is breaking the economy and taking away so many opportunities to provide health care, education, green energy, etc. Public employees retiring with million dollar pensions is an outrage. Million $ pensions? A $48,000 annual pension for a 60yr old costs $772,000. The same amount for a 55 yr old cost $831,000. A $72,000 pension for a 55 yr old costs $1,031,000. And these pensions are fixed. Throw in pensions with cost of living adjustments (which no one seems to sell) and the costs would be much higher.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB124580096328044597-lMyQjAxMDI5NDI1MzgyMDMwWj.html