Welfare-Warfare State

The Technical Bankruptcy of the Government Is Kicked Out Another Six Weeks

"The U.S. government's debt has been locked in at this implausible limit for three months: $16,699,396,000,000. The Secretary of the Treasury says that it will not hit the ceiling until mid-October. This warning is silly. The U.S. government has obviously been over the limit ever since late May. The world knows this. There is no way that the debt simply stopped growing. There is no good reason why the government cannot report this same figure from now on. If the government can legally cook the books from May 17 until today, and promises to cook them until mid-October, and no one in Congress asks how, then why not for two more months, two more years, or forever?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Technical Bankruptcy of the Government Is Kicked Out Another Six Weeks

Even Eurocrats Realize that Taxes Can Be Too High

"Tax increases imposed by the Socialist-led government in France have reached a 'fatal level', the EU's commissioner for economic affairs said today. Olli Rehn warned that a series of tax hikes since the Socialists took power 14 months ago – including €33bn in new taxes this year – threatens to 'destroy growth and handicap the creation of jobs'. President Hollande has kept his electoral promise to attack French deficits and accumulated debt. He has done so, however, almost entirely by tax increases rather than by cuts in a state apparatus which swallows 56.6 per cent of the country’s GDP. It has emerged that final budget plans for 2014 will include at least €6bn in tax rises." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEven Eurocrats Realize that Taxes Can Be Too High

France: A Proud Nation Ponders How to Halt Its Slow Decline

"Can the Socialist government of President François Hollande pull France out of its slow decline and prevent it from slipping permanently into Europe’s second tier? At stake is whether a social democratic system that for decades prided itself on being the model for providing a stable and high standard of living for its citizens can survive the combination of globalization, an aging population and the acute fiscal shocks of recent years. Changing any country is difficult. But the challenge in France seems especially hard, in part because of the nation’s amour-propre and self-image as a European leader and global power." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance: A Proud Nation Ponders How to Halt Its Slow Decline

France ‘ready to punish’ Syria over chemical weapons strike

"French President Francois Hollande upped the ante, pledging to 'punish' the regime over suspected chemical attacks and boost military support for the opposition. Hollande will on Thursday meet the head of Syria’s main opposition group, which has blamed the regime for a suspected gas attack that it says killed more than 1,300 people. The alleged attack has prompted increasingly frantic calls from Western and Arab nations for action against the Syrian regime, which denies any involvement. Sources close to Hollande say one of the options for France would be to deploy the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier off the Syrian coast. Hollande said the Syrian conflict threatened 'world peace.'" Continue reading →

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Britain has invaded all but 22 countries in the world

"A new study has found that at various times the British have invaded almost 90 per cent of the countries around the globe. The analysis of the histories of the almost 200 countries in the world found only 22 which have never experienced an invasion by the British. Among this select group of nations are far-off destinations such as Guatemala, Tajikistan and the Marshall Islands, as well some slightly closer to home, such as Luxembourg. Stuart Laycock, the author, has worked his way around the globe, through each country alphabetically, researching its history to establish whether, at any point, they have experienced an incursion by Britain." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBritain has invaded all but 22 countries in the world

Qatar: Rich and Dangerous

"Why would Qatar want to become involved in Syria where they have little invested? A map reveals that the kingdom is a geographic prisoner in a small enclave on the Persian Gulf coast. It relies upon the export of LNG, because it is restricted by Saudi Arabia from building pipelines to distant markets. A saturated North American gas market and a far more competitive Asian market leaves only Europe. The discovery in 2009 of a new gas field near Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Syria opened new possibilities to bypass the Saudi Barrier and to secure a new source of income. Pipelines are in place already in Turkey to receive the gas. Only Al-Assad is in the way." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingQatar: Rich and Dangerous