Most Americans have no clue this weekend figures big in their lives

I imagine if most Americans--coast to coast--were interviewed this weekend, they would have no idea an election is going on in Greece this weekend.

Asked, too, if they thought it could or would have much impact on them or their lives in any way, I'd think most would give a resounding "no."

Quite the opposite is true.

Greece is voting Sunday (imagine that--voting on a weekend) on their leaders. The outcome will likely be huge for Greece, of course, but for all of Europe and European Union... and even for the US.

One government would have them stick with austerity so they can get the money they need from Germany, Angela Merkel and the rest of the EU.

The other would have them do away with what they see as the crushing austerity, walk away from the money and likely walk away from the EU itself.

Let there be no mistake, this weekend is huge for what takes place internationally for the next several months, if not years.

The thing is, though, too, no one can really predict the outcome of the vote, for sure, but of whatever happens, either. No one can really say, with any real authority, what "best path" there is for Greece, let alone the EU and the world.

It's been said--by more than once source, too--that if this doesn't go well, it will make the 2008 financial collapse pale by comparison.

Once again, Margo Channing's quote from "All About Eve" becomes all too relevant:

"Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!

Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/sunday-greece-elections-prove-lehman-brothers-moment-maybe-172918499.html

Quote of the day

"Europe is headed for deep turmoil because Europeans have something to defend. They’ll fight to keep a decent social welfare net. The Americans don’t even know what a minimally just society looks like or feels like. We’ll have to create that society through struggle, and almost from scratch." --Glen Ford, Black Agenda Radio(www.BlackAgendaReport.com).

Link: http://blackagendareport.com/content/united-states-impoverished-delusional-society

Things we Americans should learn from Germany and Germans

One more thing we could learn from the German people:

Breaking news today:

Germany Rejects Fracking

Yet another great idea and movement from Germany since fracking is so polluting and causes people to get sick and also causes Earthquakes.

We should be so smart.

Other things we could and should learn from Germany:

--how to have workers--labor--and management cooperate for the benefit of labor, management, the companies themselves and so, the nation;

--killing nuclear power is a good idea since it has so many and much extra costs to it, due to the half-life of radioactive uranium and those storage costs and issues;

--working hard on solar energy, specifically photovoltaic cells, makes a lot of sense due to its many benefits not least of which is getting out of the Middle East, turning over so much national treasure for oil until we do thus weakening the nation further, polluting far less, putting less C02 in the air, etc.;

--killing "outsourcing" of manufacturing since it takes jobs out of the country which weakens us as citizens but also the nation, of course.

So much we could learn.

And that's just a short list.

If only we wanted to learn, huh?

Links: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-rejects-fracking-to-tap-natural-gas-a-831764.html; http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/07-2

The EU/Greek/German situation now

Still fascinating, for sure. This, last evening: G20 inches toward $2 trillion in rescue funds. With the G20 countries meeting right now in Mexico, they've come up with a plan for all the members to pony up two trillion dollars, as a safety buffer for the EU countries, to help them get over this rough debt patch. All well and good, I suppose. The EU, the US and China and the rest of the world, really, can't afford to let the EU go down, that's been clear all along. What's fascinating, though, is that the Greek people aren't for the austerity measures that are being forced on them now while the Germans aren't crazy about having to be the ones who pony up so much of that money to bail them out of their mess. Crazy situation. Final note here today on this: Greece's goal has to be to get their debt down to only 120% of GDP (Gross Domestic Productivity) by the year 2020. That shows you how bad things are for them and just how much they've overspent. It just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. Link: http://news.yahoo.com/euro-zone-deal-firewall-awaits-germany-001447722.html

In employment, the Germans seemed to know something

There is an article out today about the Germans and their high employment: Record number of Germans in work in 2011 It tells of their successes: "The number of employed people in Germany hit a new record in 2011, said official statistics published on Monday, with more than half a million jobs created last year in Europe's top economy. There were an average of 41.04 million people working in Germany last year, the national statistics office Destatis said in a statement, a rise of 535,000 people, or 1.3 percent, on the previous 12 months. It was the first time the number of people working in Germany has risen above the 41-million mark, Destatis said. The population of the country is nearly 82 million." So I'm thinking, maybe we could emulate them a bit? At least a bit? Anyone in Washington listening? Link to original article: http://news.yahoo.com/record-number-germans-2011-103857953.html

Obama haters aren't going to like this

Check this out: "President Barack Obama is still the world's most respected leader, according to a new six-country poll." Beat that. It goes on: "Released today by France 24 and Radio France Internationale, the Harris Interactive Poll asked 6,135 adults between the ages of 16 and 64 who live in the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany or Spain to name their favorite world leaders. Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed chose Obama, which is one percentage point higher than when Harris Interactive asked the same question in November. Close on his heels is the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, who was mentioned by 75 percent of those polled. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton came in third at 62 percent, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel was mentioned by 54 percent of respondents, good enough for fourth place." Just saying. Have a great weekend, y'all.

Quote of the day

“Europe has never been at greater risk of explosion than today.” --French President Nikolas Sarkozy, quoted this week in Brussels at the European Conference to save the Euro and so, by extension, the European economies and possibly, Europe and the international economy. Link: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/12/is-europe-exploding.html#ixzz1g4om2inj

If the Euro and Eurozone fail...

This out today in the news: US bank warns of eurozone breakup 'pandemonium' Citigroup economist and former central banker Willem Buiter warned Thursday that a fully blown breakup of the eurozone could spell a global depression with unemployment of 20 percent and economic pandemonium. Sketching a stark picture of the stakes facing European leaders as they gather in Brussels to discuss how to save the single currency, Buiter said a breakup would unlikely be planned, orderly or gradual. Buiter, a former Bank of England policy maker, predicted in a research note that a breakup would be "disruptive, destructive and without any winners." Basically, I think this is what he has in mind: Wish us all luck, ladies and gentlemen.

I can hardly believe this

From the PBS "NewsHour" web page, check out their article "5 Things to Know About the G20 Summit": "The Europeans, particularly the Germans and French, like the idea of a financial transaction tax in order to have banks pay for their own bailouts rather than the taxpayers. But Britain and the United States are not keen on it. They feel their financial institutions, which are larger, would suffer more, and that the taxes themselves would be easy to evade." Get that. The Americans don't want to "have banks pay for their own bailouts..." if you can believe that. Astounding. Wouldn't you think that would be self-evident AND fair? Americans just aren't very bright. Or, in actuality, the American corporations can just buy our representatives easier. Link: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/11/g20-primer.html

Pop Quiz: How many times has the German Chancellor been to see Pres. O?

As you know, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in Washington this week:

Obama Takes Merkel Out For Pre-State Dinner

Since this president was elected and took office, how many times has German Chancellor Angela Merkel been here to meet and talk with him?  

Bueller?

The answer is six.

Six times in two years.

Holy cow.

You know what that means, right?

However much work President O and the Dems need to create jobs between now and next November, she must be in a world more trouble politically, back at home, than he is.

Yikes.

I wonder if they're collectively more concerned about what's going on than they can betray to the public with both the world economy, in general, and Europe, more specifically.

Link to more articles on this visit:  http://www.npr.org/search/index.php?searchinput=angela+merkel

Germany leads the way in intelligence and good, wise decisions

First it is the way they set up their employment laws and now this:

Germany set to abandon nuclear power for good

By JUERGEN BAETZ, Associated Press

BERLIN – Germany is determined to show the world how abandoning nuclear energy can be done.

The world's fourth-largest economy stands alone among leading industrialized nations in its decision to stop using nuclear energy because of its inherent risks. It is betting billions on expanding the use of renewable energy to meet power demands instead.

The transition was supposed to happen slowly over the next 25 years, but is now being accelerated in the wake of Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant disaster, which Chancellor Angela Merkel has called a "catastrophe of apocalyptic dimensions."

Berlin's decision to take seven of its 17 reactors offline for three months for new safety checks has provided a glimpse into how Germany might wean itself from getting nearly a quarter of its power from atomic energy to none.

And experts say Germany's phase-out provides a good map that countries such as the United States, which use a similar amount of nuclear power, could follow. The German model would not work, however, in countries like France, which relies on nuclear energy for more than 70 percent of its power and has no intention of shifting.


Then, before anyone thinks this can't be done or that we, the US, can't or shouldn't do this for one lazy, lame-brain reason or another, check out this quote:


"If we had the winds of Texas or the sun of California, the task here would be even easier," said Felix Matthes of Germany's renowned Institute for Applied Ecology.


And then there's this--this is their plan:


The Environment Ministry says in 10 years renewable energy will contribute 40 percent of the country's overall electricity production

And then there's the additonal benefits:

Last year, German investment in renewable energy topped euro26 billion ($37 billion) and secured 370,000 jobs, the government said.

At what point does America learn?

At what point does America get back to leading the world in intelligence and intelligent decisions and technology?

Now would be a good time.

Link to original post:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110323/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_germany_abandoning_nuclear_power;_ylt=AhX_iDMGyi3giJdFyiwYN.FH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTNubnUxb202BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMzIzL2V1X2dlcm1hbnlfYWJhbmRvbmluZ19udWNsZWFyX3Bvd2VyBGNjb2RlA21wX2VjXzhfMTAEY3BvcwM5BHBvcwM5BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDZ2VybWFueXNldHRv

Julian Assange: Sinner or saint?

You know, really, this whole Julian Assange/Wikileaks case is pretty fascinating.

Most Americans likely don't know much of Wikileaks other than that they first released 90,000 files on the Afghanistan War earlier this year and then more recently, just released approximately 250,000 more files, of somewhat random material, all from our own government.

The fact is, if you go to the Wikipedia site for Wikileaks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks), you can find they've really had a pretty good go, internationally, of exposing corruption and pollution and other topics, all over the globe.  They've, so far, had a pretty good run.

But this last release I spoke of above, with the 250,000 files, seems to be a bit of a low point for both Wikileaks and their founder, this Julian Assange.

The material they released didn't really seem to pin down any real or specific "sins" of the US--or any other country.  It all seemed just a hodge-podge of information, released because they could.  A big release for release sake.  So what if someone said Germany's Angela Merkel isn't "creative"?  Who cares?  It's all about blown over, even now.

What starts to get fascinating, though, is the charges out of Sweden just now for Mr. Assange.  This is the second time for it but he's finally being formally charged, this time with two charges of sexual misconduct.


Interpol issued a high alert for Assange on Wednesday at the request of Sweden.  Assange has maintained his innocence and called the charges in Sweden a smear campaign.

You have to wonder if Sweden is correct and he really did these wrong things or if he just pissed off way too many people, in way too high positions and now it's all going to come down on him.

It's getting curioser and curioser.

It should be even more fascinating to see this all unfold.

Link:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/12/01/assange.profile/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+rss/cnn_topstories+(RSS:+Top+Stories)

France looks better all the time

France, Germany, French President Nikolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel all look better and smarter all the time, it seems.

They're the ones pressing the most at the G20 right now for much more regulation and restrictions in business and our ugly, out-of-control Capitalism.

Thank God.

Look where all this selfish, unregulated banking, for instance, has gotten us--all of us, worldwide. Collapsing banks. Failing insurance companies. Collapsing stock markets.

Maybe doing it all "above board" makes far more sense after all. This way the wealthy can, sure, still make money but just not fleece so many others who may or may not have that much money, all so they can be more obscenely wealthy.

They're also saying that maybe it doesn't make so much sense to throw so many more trillions of dollars at these busineses, too.

Imagine that--Socialist countries saying that maybe it doesn't make sense to soak up tax money to big institutions.

It seems backward, doesn't it?

Usually it's the free market capitalists who are saying don't throw government money at problems.

Pass those French Fries, will you?

Link to story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090402/ap_on_re_eu/g20_summit