Where do I put the R in P.I.I.G.S.?

And another one bites the dust. Another one gone and another one gone. Think you know the rest of that ditty but this is about Romania. Portugal Ireland Italy Greece Spain and now Romania all on the edge of collapse. The powers that be would try and tell you otherwise but it's the same story where every you go. Racked up debts, not enough revenues to cover the interest and another country slated for austerity. The fascinating aspect in all of this was that back in the late 80s when we were getting our first glimpse into a country dominated by Soviet rule. The nations' leader Nicolae Caesescou (sic) made the fatal error of borrowing an estimated $10 billion from the IMF but in an effort to pay that back drove the country through austerity measures into an impoverished ditch so to speak. The Soviet Union was no help at the time as they siphoned off of that nations' resources. I remember a few news items of the time as western journalists were finally allowed into the country. One thing I recall reading about was that no one was permitted to use a light bulb of higher than 40 watts. Another item about a factory town that produced carbon black for car tires. The streets were literally caked in soot as were the residents and bath soap was at a premium. How anyone could have survived those conditions is a mystery to me. Even the places I've worked in hazardous waste weren't that bad and I've worked in some nasty places.

Now we need to dig through the rest of the old Soviet bloc nations to see more misery. I'm sure it will come out albeit slowly unless main stream media screws up and lets the cats out of the bag too soon. You will note that the large news agencies scramble for any scrape of positive financial news to stem the tide of what's not being spoken. Let's face it folks this world is about totally broke and won't admit it. Start with your city. Are its' books balanced? Mine's not. Is the state budget balanced? Again mine is not. How about the national budget? Are revenues able to pay the interest on the debt? Mine almost not but we're getting very close.

I have to laugh and not in a humorous way. Governments are changing hands but the game remains the same. Like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic the new leader puts more burdens on the people where the last one left off. Just change the party name and don't forget to throw the term Democratic somewhere in the middle. Liberal Democratic, Social Democratic or National Democratic it doesn't matter now.

Should we now call the situation PRIIGS or should we wait to buy another vowel. Oops that's right can't afford another vowel we'll just have to wait for a Euro bail out or an IMF loan. On second thought can't afford the interest so forget it.

(Thought about throwing in a usual cat photo example here but I'll save that for Friday.)