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.)

A Greek tragedy

If you thought this was about the play Electra you're on the wrong page.

Greece situation - Good god this amazes me. Greece is set to default on their debt and the European Union wants more austerity for the country. It's as if finding a starving person you tell them to get more food you'll have to eat less and the food they'll be given will need to be stored to pay me back interest on this food. Only here we're talking about money but actually it isn't money. It is debt and promises and bringing hardship on people most of whom had nothing to do with the problem. I can just about see how this will all play out. The loans will be made then neatly packaged and leveraged and sold again to some unsuspecting fund manager in the attempt to rebuild the house of cards. They (investors) will of course buy a hedge against a collapse at a very high price and again the insurance will be underfunded. And when the music stops and the bill comes due we'll be right back where we started.
And what could be gained through a bankruptcy? A default would do no less harm. Greeces' primary problem stems from the fact that the bulk of their income comes from tourism which has been wiped out with the current economic downturn. This could be a glimpse of things to come in the U.S. if we keep outsourcing our manufacturing. It's been reported that we have lost 45,000 factories (not jobs but whole factories) over the last ten years a trend that can not continue. We may have added a couple of hundred thousand jobs in the last month but in what areas?

I see today Merkel and Sarcozy are becoming impatient at Greeces' foot dragging. Can you blame Greece? They get a choice of two poison pills. Take your pick red or green either one will kill you. But if they wait they'll infect the doctor causing him great pain. Interesting Mexican stand off we have here but we know the clock is ticking because Greece has until March to make a decision. Nothing like waiting until the last second before the bomb goes off but in this case it'll go off anyway you look at it. Imagine if you were hit with a 29% tax bill and hearing that the government wanted yet more? I have to ask just how do you squeeze blood out of a turnip Ms. Merkel and Mr. Sarcozy?

Thar's gold in them thar hills

hat tip to Friz Freleng (R.I.P.) and Warner Bros.

Can you just picture Yosemite Sam shooting both six shooters. And Bugs chuckling and saying "What a maroon." And today we have the same idiots lusting after the shiny metal thinking they'll be the next Bill Gates.

Canadians tell us that there's a bunch of the stuff in the eastern side of the state here. Only problem is it's a mile down deep. Humm exactly how do they know that? Do they have super x ray vision or something? Maybe all those years of mining uranium has given them super powers. It's funny I seem to recall a tad bit of history on the subject. Of the thousands of glassy eyed Rockefeller wannabes that put every cent they had into going north to Alaska to claim their fortune only a very small handful struck it rich. And you know who made more money than miners? The people here in Seattle who sold them all the equipment to do the job. It took nearly a ton of provisions to make the trek over mountains and into the gold fields of the Klondike. We even have a museum here called the Klondike gold rush museum dedicated to that era.

I get a bit of a kick out of watching Goldrush that new reality show. Watching a bunch of guys (don't get me wrong I'm sure they're sensible somewhat intelligent people on their home turf) turn into glassy eyed gold fever idiots is somewhat amusing. Dad there rushing in to dig holes everywhere is about what you'd expect from green horns. Just about every move they've made is a rookie mistake. No systematic approach for these guys. Interestingly enough if you're tooling along interstate 70 in Colorado and peer to the hills along the route you will notice holes and mine tailings doting the landscape. So I have to wonder if some poor slob got the fever and grabbed a shovel because most of these hill carvings are very small.

And a last thought on all this before I depart. Just what is gold really worth? It's used in manufacturing, gold fillings and jewelry but as an every day commodity we really have little use for the stuff. And beware of the gold bubble. My place at the height of the housing bubble was said to be worth one quarter million dollars. Yeah right! I saw the same thing with gold back in the 1980s. What had once been worth a price of around $40 soon shot to nearly $900. People lined up to dump their coins and jewelry at the nearest shop. I only wonder how many shops went under when the price plummeted and who got burned.

To read our latest local gold rush: Gold in eastern Washington

Don't think we'll be seeing too many backyard prospectors there as it was reported to be a mile under the earth but you never know.

Not so Super

Why is it that in lifes' journey there always seems to be somebody out there that wants to drag you down? You know who I'm talking about. (hate that expression of course you don't I haven't gotten to the meat of this issue). And that reminds me of the expression "you know what you did". But I digress. Is it sheer greed or some sort of inferiority complex that makes these people? Didn't momma love them enough or were they teased but their siblings? Were they the nerd of the class that everybody made fun of? Then these people grow up to become, unfortunately, leaders. And rather than look after the best interests of society they set about to make everyones' life miserable. Is this some payback for an unhappy childhood? One has to wonder.

And now we see the results of a hoard of these outcasts banding together and having become the blue meanies of congress. The very people who tried to scare us to death with death panels for grandma are trying to steal grandmas' retirement and medical. You know the kid. When the old gal is pleasantly baking cookies in the kitchen grandson is stealing cash from her purse. When confronted with the missing funds junior insists it wasn't him and blames her for leaving her purse out where anyone could take it.

This is a tried and not so true tactic for you see people are starting to wise up to what's going on. The "blame the victim" routine might have worked once or twice but people aren't buying it anymore. And to such a grand scale these nerds have taken this scam. So with all this in mind I get to the meat of the matter. Okay what's the point in all this banter? A person becomes employed and when they do they expect to have an understanding of the way a company operates. They are informed from day one what the salary and benefits are. It is by it's nature a contract whether written or not. The worker in turn has an obligation to provide his/her labor or talent and look out for the best interests of the organization as a whole. Those at the top of the organization are permitted to negotiate their pay and benefits either on their own or with legal representative. A worker on average does not have that ability unless backed by a union. Who in this day and age could afford an attorney at their rates? So now it's become an issue of management to try and take away that advantage. They will do whatever it takes to belittle bemoan and berate the workforce as if nobody but their own standard of living mattered. And what major benefit have they provided? Have they stood on the production line or faced the dangers of the workplace? Most I'd say have not.

Now we come to that grandest of sporting events the Super Bowl. Say what you will about fat bank accounts of players and the millions they make but no one sees the billions the owners walk off the field with if they even bother to show up at all. They sit in their high posh glass enclosed suites and watch the play from afar. And I'd bet that the only time they make their presents felt is when there's a championship at stake. But the whole concept is somewhat skewed. A player may be lucky enough to have a long career but at what price. We know that the life expectancy of a player is 50 to 55 years on average. Then there's the injuries and surgeries to face which are becoming far too common. One bad hit becomes career ending and with usually little to fall back on what's a player to do? We have seen more than one pennyless and homeless player ground up from the gridiron.

And to my final point (thanks for staying tuned). Indiana has now become one of those right to work states or as I call it right to starve. No longer is a person there permitted to bargain for their salary and benefits if they are in a group, This will bring down the wages of all at a time when costs of living are going up. The nerds may have won this round but the people will rise up and change things. That is a given. We saw what's happening in Wisconsin and Ohio and soon to a state near you. So as a protest I'll be watching an old movie or something like that when the big game day hype rolls around. The ads may be clever but seeing the end result in all this isn't worth the price of admission.

Asbestos pussy

Watching a report last night about Canada wanting to open up an asbestos mine to start exporting the stuff to India. I got an eyeful about how the people of India handle the stuff (include me out as Yogi would say). Showed workers hand scooping the fluffy stuff into piles with nothing more that a bandana over their face. A couple of Canadian PMs touting how it can be done safely and all the money that can be made by exporting to third world countries.
Okay a reality check here. I've worked removing the stuff for over 20 years. Unlike our foreign workers there I was given extensive training to protect myself and even though I've worked with some less than honorable outfits managed to protect myself because I put my own safety first and made sure that at least minimum standards were used to protect others. I also know that banning asbestos is out of the question because there are certain processes where there is no substitute. We could not produce paper or gasoline without the benefit of chemical resistant asbestos. There's simply no other material on the planet that will withstand the abuse. Now I find that our use of the material has increased here in the U.S. (see below)

According to the 2012 United State Geological Survey of mineral commodities, U.S. industries consumed 1,100 metric tons of asbestos from January through July 2011, compared to 820 metric tons during the same period in 2010. The difference represents a 34 percent increase in consumption, Reinstein said.

The U.S. Geological Survey report estimated that roofing felt materials account for about 60 percent of U.S. consumption of asbestos. The chlorine manufacturing industry, which utilizes asbestos diaphragms in the manufacturing of industrial chemicals, accounted for about 30 percent of asbestos consumption, the report said. The United States still has asbestos diaphragm cell plants.

I find that report kind of odd considering our housing market, the biggest consumer of roofing felt, has been nearly flat for the last three years. So I can only assume that we've been making products and shipping them elsewhere. Many products are still permitted to contain asbestos but I'd bet that they aren't produced due to the liability. We still use the stuff in car brake linings and small amounts in flooring tiles (that's why it has a 15 year guarantee). And one last thought, I'd bet anything that U.S. companies are just itching to get into Canada to get at their asbestos because they probably haven't changed their laws on mining the stuff since much of it was closed down years ago. Mesothelioma is not a pretty way to die killing you slowly over a period of about 12 to 18 months. How does it kill you? Simple, the fibers get into your lungs and get stuck. Your body tries to fight off the foreign material and in the process creates scare tissue. The hard tissue makes your lungs rigid so you slowly suffocate causing heart failure. In all the years I worked with the stuff I've only known of one worker who had asbestosis but then he wasn't the brightest bulb in the bunch.

What was I going to say?

Think I'm starting to lose it. I thought for sure I had a post all set to go for today. Maybe the beginning of that old timers disease? But with age comes wisdom. My usual trick for relaying events when the gray matter has turned to pink slime is to say that it happened about two week ago and that is sufficient. Nobody really cares anyway because I'm not running for public office so so what if FDR was around when there was no TV. This isn't Dragnet and you don't need to know all the facts and nothing but the facts. Now where was I? Can't even remember what little snippet I had set to dump here. Is this the beginning of the end? You know how that goes when mother nature has her way with you. First the vision starts going. Used to be able to read that mouse print disclaimer at the bottom of the ads and now nobody asks if I'd thread a needle for them anymore because they know I can't without multiple magnification and three hands. Then the audio portion of the program starts to fade. But as cover you laugh at the funny parts of TV shows with the rest of the audience because you don't want to look like the dunce. And here's a little something for the ladies. It's not that hubby wasn't paying attention to what you're saying (well most times) it's that he can't hear you. Proven fact that men lose a certain portion of the tonal range when they get older and guess where that range is? Yep it's the pitch of the female voice. Ah there may be a god after all. Hey put that rolling pin down there an explanation here! Men really don't care about all the miniscule details of any event. They don't care one bit if Betty Lou's dress matched her shoes or not or the convoluted genealogical progression of her kin folk. We could care less about how many cousins four times removed because it really doesn't matter you're not writing a police report Sgt. Friday.

Did I mention the beginnings of the lack of patience. Oh course I didn't I just forgot. I think I know the root cause of that. You see people who have been on this planet long enough have experienced just about everything there is to experience. So nine times out of ten they know exactly what's going to happen before it does. Not many surprises left for us old fogies. So as you fumble for your wallet at the store when we know you left it in the car don't blame us for being irritated. We've already been down that road before once too often so get over it. Now where the hell did I park the car?

Statistics and the lies they present us with

(there's that darn cat but he's being stubborn and won't animate)

My old man was a statistician. Yep a number cruncher or bean counter. Take your pick. I'm terrible at math but I did learn a few things from my dad along the way like lying with statistics. I hate percentages. I hate ads in the newspaper that offer sales that say 50% off when they don't tell you the original price because usually it's a lie. So too it is with polling figures. The winner got 46%. 46% of what I'd ask? Okay here's the stats but they mean very little unless you know the whole story. That I will give later. (God I hate teases too)



Statewide Votes
Michele BachmannREP3,959
0.24%
Herman CainREP3,494
0.21%
Newt GingrichREP533,038
31.93%
Jon HuntsmanREP6,197
0.37%
Gary JohnsonREP1,196
0.07%
Ron PaulREP117,094
7.01%
Rick PerryREP6,768
0.41%
Mitt RomneyREP774,942
46.42%
Rick SantorumREP222,774
13.34%
1,669,462total votes cast

Now I peel away the curtain of what lame stream media isn't or won't tell you and we find some interesting facts. Below is the listing of how many registered voters there are in the state of Florida with party break down.

Republican: 4,075,147 Democrat: 4,562,964 Other: 2,638,324 Total: 11,276,435

Floridas' primary is a closed primary meaning only people registered with a particular party may vote for their candidates. No cross party voting. So of all the registered republicans in the state only 40% came out to vote for any republican candidate. South Carolina only saw a turn out of 21%. To reframe this then 60% of Florida republican voters see no sense in voting while nearly 80% of republican voters in South Carolina see no use in voting. That does seem odd seeing as how the pundits keep telling us that if things are bad economically in an election year then the party in power will get thrown out. And we all know how the doom and gloom sayers have been touting Obama's policies as failed. You think maybe just maybe the American people are starting to wake up to the fact that we can't go back to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place? Tax cuts and deregulation does not create jobs. And seeing as how we have an aging population you think anyone would want to give up their social security and medical just so that some greedy people on Wall Street have more money to play with? I didn't think so either.

The clown car rolls on next stop Nevada.