Thursday, October 20, 2011

Larwyn's Linx: Occupy Wall Street (Hearts) Wall Street

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Occupy Wall Street (Hearts) Wall Street: Coulter
CNN Blows the Lid Off ‘The Liberal Church of Herman Cain’: Driscoll
Romney's Latest Anti-Perry Ad Dishonest, Dishonorable: GWP

Report: Fed Directors Benefited From Bailouts: Exam
The GOP and RomneyCare: WSJ
Cain the Contender: RSM

Economy

5 reasons income inequality is a myth — and OWS is wrong: Pethokoukis
Envy Is the Problem: TAB
Panic stations: Bank's unanimous vote on QE bodes ill: Telegraph

Issa Blasts NLRB for withholding documents: Nice Deb
Biden: Pass Obama’s jobs bill or somebody is going to get raped: Knight
Wealth Redistributors Freak When Their Wealth Redistributed: Driscoll

A Moment of Candor From Harry Reid: Power Line
Obamacare likely to hurt less-skilled workers: Hot Air
Zbigniew Brzezinski's Enemies List: IBD

Occupy

Hey, Occupy Wall Street: What, No Anti-Obama Signs?: Elder
Anti-Semitic Teacher Filmed at OWS Fired by LAUSD: AmPower
American Nazi Party: OWS Fervor "Sweeping The Land Like a Breath of Cleansing Air!”: WZ

Gunrunner & Energygate

Energy Department Altering On-Line Press Releases About "Green" Energy Loans: Ace
Solyndra: IRS gave company individualized tax breaks: NRO
Gunwalker: The Third Gun: Owens

SSI Exclusive: OIG "investigation" a "total sham that will go on forever.": Sipsey
Napolitano on ATF Fast and Furious: "We're waiting for the Inspector General": Attkisson
Obama Energy Dept. Literally Re-writing Solyndra History; Will Media Report?: NB

Climate & Energy

EU Leak Shows Wind, Solar Energy to Double Power Bills: Instapundit
Al Gore Attempts High School Science. Hilarity Ensues: Ace
The DOE Is Acting Kremlinesque: Betsy

Media

Letter to the Republican Presidential Candidates from a Former Democrat: Simon
ABC Touts Tapper's Question to Obama on Children's Books, Spikes His Fast and Furious Query: NB
Left sees Solyndra coverage and asks, ‘Where’s Keystone?’: Politico

Obama: "I'm Enormously Proud of" Myself... "All the Choices [I've] Made Have Been Right": PunditPress
Vote For Obama Because He's Black: Thomas
A Picture Is Worth 10,000... eh... Dollars: Wizbang

The Beast That Ate the News Cycle: Instapundit
R.I.P., America’s liberal-media elite: MarketWatch
Joe Biden to Jason Mattera: 'Don't Screw Around With Me' : JWF

World

I’m Baffled. What’s He Up To?: Ledeen
Poll: Only 39% of Jewish Voters In Deep-Blue NYC Approve of Obama's Israel Policies, 55% Disapprove: WZ
Burglary arrests in San Antonio terror related?: Hot Air

Sci-Tech

Highest Paid IT Executives: CIO Insight
Uh oh: “Son of Stuxnet” now circulating online: Hot Air
F-35B: “Running When We Intended to Crawl”: DefTech

Cornucopia

Snappy Retorts Throughout History: Ace
Wednesday Night War Porn: WZ
"GAAP-uccino" - David Einhorn's Full Short Green Mountain Coffee Presentation: ZH

Image: Green Mountains - "Don't Be That Idiot"
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Michele Bachmann for President

QOTD: "We still don’t know:

• who came up with Operation Fast and Furious;
• the identities of the Justice, Homeland Security, State, and Treasury officials that approved the operation;
• why the acting DOJ inspector general has not recused herself from the DOJ investigation considering her past legal work with Eric Holder, a seemingly clear conflict of interest;
• how four cabinet-level agencies could run a high risk, low chance of success operation without the White House approving and monitoring the operation;
• why officials running the plot felt compelled to “dirty up” an ATF agent by forcing him to use taxpayer dollars to buy six Draco pistols and to deliver them personally to cartel weapons smugglers in hopes his involvement would keep him from testifying;
• why the agencies involved refuse to answer direct questions from congressmen and senators who have asked whether there were gunwalking programs in other states.

It appears that the primary mission of Eric Holder’s Department of Justice is to insulate President Obama’s political appointees from the consequences of their actions, and to obstruct the pursuit of justice by Congress as much as possible." --Bob Owens

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Awesome news: GM now using taxpayer dollars to award teachers "Green Educator" prizes consisting of unsellable Chevy Volts

Looking for an unholy alliance between the climate change scam, the teachers' unions and Government Motors?

Well, Sweet Fancy Moses, we've got it -- all on the taxpayers' dime, mind you (remember, GM still owes taxpayers roughly $40 billion):

A local science teacher has passed his knowledge on to students, and now General Motors is passing an award on to him.

Officials from GM's Genesee County plants handed out the award, and with it, the keys to one of the greenest cars around...

...It was a big surprise for Beecher biology teacher Don Hammond.

The car is a bonus to the Chevrolet "Green Educator of the Year award," a new award focusing on environmental education.

"Students, the next generation of adults coming up, need to understand that they do need to take that to heart and try and make a difference," said Hammond. "So being environmental stewards and learning about social justice and those kinds of things as young adults. That's really what it's all about."

Great. That's just what young scientists must learn to succeed in the cutthroat global competition: "social justice".

What a freaking disaster.


Germany and the End of the Euro

A commenter ("AbelCatalyst") on ZeroHedge offers the following theory concerning Germany and the Euro:

The following “Black Swan” theory is quite plausible, yet, very few have really discussed it because it feels too “out there,” which makes it the perfect Black Swan event.

The Black Swan Theory: Germany is about to go back to the Mark and there are overwhelmingly compelling reasons for Germany to do so:

1. Germany has a ton of debt, close to 80% of GDP, which they can inflate away without experiencing the chaos of hyperinflation

As in the US and most developed countries, the only way the debt is going away is either by default or inflation. Germany has a very unique opportunity as they can inflate away their debt and not experience the consequences of hyperinflation. Think about this for a moment. If Germany drops out of the Euro, then that currency goes into a death spiral while the Mark increases in value. All of their debt is in Euros so they can say bye-bye to their mountain of debt almost immediately. This is a unique opportunity for Germany at a very critical moment in time. It may not be wise to underestimate the power of self preservation. This is why German continues to appear to play nice, but is doing absolutely nothing (see German Endgame below).

2. Germany is deathly afraid of hyperinflation, but knows it needs inflation to wipe out it’s debt

As with almost every other developed country, inflation is needed, but the consequences are severe and civil unrest would surly follow. Most countries are between a rock and a hard place – no painless solution exists. However, Germany has the perfect solution looking them in the face. They can experience all the benefits of hyperinflation, while pushing the pain onto their neighbors. Again, this is a situation that is unique only to Germany because they are singlehandedly holding up the Euro while having all their debt in Euros. The pull to go back to the Mark must feel incredibly tempting, and I’m not sure they can resist.

3. Germany MUST keep their AAA rating

If Germany stays with the Euro they will lose their AAA rating, and their current debt will become totally unmanageable (just like every other developed nation). The difference is Germany has the unique opportunity to print Marks and inflate their debt away with virtually no negative consequences.

4. The benefit of being in the Euro is quickly coming to a close

Germany has been the number one beneficiary of the Euro as they let PIIGS nations borrow at low rates to buy their exports. While Germany’s exports and economy has done well, the catalyst for growth has been debt. This is the same for all developed, debtor nations; however, Germany has a very unique exit strategy. As it relates to this theory, many of the benefits to being in the Euro is quickly diminishing, which makes Germany’s exit from the Euro far more compelling at the present time.

The Endgame for Germany

The Endgame is easy for Germany. The Euro needs to fall apart before they can make their move so they’re just sitting back and waiting patiently for the opportunity. If Greece goes bankrupt and the dominoes begin to fall, watch for Germany to go back to the Mark.

The strategy is obvious: Germany simply appears to be supporting the Euro as aggressively as possible without taking any actual action. Does this sound familiar? Float roomers, suck up to the French, agree to bailouts as long as there is a long list of strings, have their high court subtly undermine Germany’s participation in bailouts, and sit back and wait for the collapse. It’s important to understand that it is in Germany’s best interest for the Euro to fall apart because they will end up with the strongest currency with virtually no debt.

I’m not sure why people have not seen this, but it seems fairly obvious. Each country will ultimately act in their own best interest when the SHTF and this will be the best option for Germany – is there any doubt? What country in such a unique situation would not do the same? Do you think the US would do this if presented with the opportunity? You bet they would!

If you look at all the evidence through the lens of this Black Swan Theory, then all the recent actions (or lack thereof) begin to make perfect sense! And as a final note, a recent very credible source said that Germany is already in the process of printing Marks!

When it comes to the tangled spaghetti-wiring that is the Eurozone, the concept of an "orderly default" strikes me as an oxymoron.


The Five Best-Looking Rear Ends






Images via Edmunds.com.

Another classic from James Taranto

Uncle Ben points us to this gem:

If you don't laugh out loud at this New York Post report, you have no heart:

Occupy Wall Street protesters said yesterday that packs of brazen crooks within their ranks have been robbing their fellow demonstrators blind, making off with pricey cameras, phones and laptops--and even a hefty bundle of donated cash and food.

"Stealing is our biggest problem at the moment," said Nan Terrie, 18, a kitchen and legal-team volunteer from Fort Lauderdale.

"I had my Mac stolen--that was like $5,500. Every night, something else is gone. Last night, our entire [kitchen] budget for the day was stolen, so the first thing I had to do was . . . get the message out to our supporters that we needed food!"


Oh heavens no! Krugman's Army has been infiltrated by people who don't believe in property rights!

Or, to paraphrase Ed Driscoll: "Wealth Redistributors Freak When Their Wealth Redistributed!"


Just Two More of the Filthy One Percent

The "99 percent versus the one percent" may make for a good populist slogan but it has no basis in fact.

Five separate studies by liberal economists reveal that "income inequality is a myth."

In fact, no less a leftist icon than Jason Furman -- deputy director of President Obama's National Economic Council -- wrote in 2006 that every segment of American society has become wealthier since the Reagan revolution.

Remember when even upper-middle class families worried about staying on a long distance call for too long? When flying was an expensive luxury? When only a minority of the population had central air conditioning, dishwashers, and color televisions? When no one had DVD players, iPods, or digital cameras? And when most Americans owned a car that broke down frequently, guzzled fuel, spewed foul smelling pollution, and didn’t have any of the now virtually standard items like air conditioning or tape/CD players?

Free enterprise, the market system and -- dare I say it -- capitalism -- have created the most magnificent society ever seen on the face of the Earth.

But put all of the studies and common sense aside (easy for the Occupy Wall Streeters, to be sure) -- and simply consider two of Obama's hated "one percent".

Twelve years ago, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were students at Stanford. They were then members of Obama's oppressed "poor". Page grew up in this house, hardly the lap of luxury.

Less than ten years later, Page and Brin were worth a combined $36 billion as the founders of Google.

What the Left's economic illiterates can't or won't understand is that wealth disparity is wonderful. It allowed Page and Brin to invent, innovate, and construct a radically wonderful company from whole cloth, employing tens of thousands and producing thousands of other millionaires. Many of these new millionaires invested, spent, created other new companies without having their money stolen by the government and delivered to their political cronies (*cough* Solyndra *cough*).

Now, of course, Brin and Page are among the vile "rich" -- to be demonized as somehow oppressing the poor.

But if you take more money from the business owners, you get less venture capital, less investment, less business growth and -- ultimately -- fewer jobs.

You see, drones, what's important is not wealth disparity, it's income mobility. That is, the ability to move between economic classes is what makes America unique.

Of the top ten wealthiest members of the Forbes 400, six are self-made billionaires.

But apparently this is too difficult for the economic illiterates behind Occupy Wall Street. They want the rich to become poorer, so they'll invest less, spend less and hire fewer people.

In fact, I'd call the OWS crowd dumber than a bag of hammers, but that unfairly impugns the usefulness of hammers.


Larwyn's Linx: Obama's “Mini” Jobs Bill: a $35 Billion Union Bailout

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Obama's “Mini” Jobs Bill: a $35 Billion Union Bailout: Malkin
Clark Clifford Republicans: Lord
Obama Fundraising Redux: Campaign Stimulus?: Patterico

Ennui on Wall Street: Dewey
The Three Phases of Civil Unrest: Big Peace
My New Hero Shuts Down Wind Farm: Soylent Green

Drunkblogging Tonight’s GOP Debate: Vodkapundit
Analysis Of CNN’s Nevada Debate: The Winners And Losers: RWN
Debate Score: Perry for the Win: Tatler

Occupy

Occupy Events Nationwide Marred by Assault Reports: VS
Marxist Mobocracy: Times
Occupy LA: Kooks and Commies and Creeps, Oh My: Zombie

World’s most ineffectual revolutionary recruiter: Zombie
Felon armed with rifle arrested at Occupy Seattle: GWP
Are You Smarter Than a Wall Street Occupier?: NYMag

Economy

Headed to Disaster: Treasury Report on FY 2011 Deficit: VirtRep
Wall Street Protesters Are Half Right: Stossel
Obama and the OWS Protesters: Regan

Pitting Us Against Each Other: RWN
Gov. Brown puts unions ahead of citizens, again: UnionWatch
European Banks Vow $1 Trillion Shrinkage: Bloomberg

Gunrunner & Energygate

The Media's Green Whitewash: Bozell
‘Fast & Furious’: How botched operation spawned fatal results: Times
DOJ Accuses Issa of 'Mischaracterizing' Evidence in Probe of Operation Fast and Furious: Fox

Media

Obama: My opponents fail to lead while I am in power: Times
A State-Sponsored Revolution: Winter Soldier
Dour Denninger Dumps on Yours Truly — and Pajamas Media: Blumer

Herman Cain: Runaway Slave: Marcus
Fake signatures may mean Obama didn't actually qualify in Indiana in '08: SBTrib
Sums Things Up Nicely: Wizbang

World

Iranians Win 4,453 ‘Diversity Visa’ Applications to Immigrate to U.S.: Bruce
Houston Hyatt Place Hotel caves to Islamic supremacist intimidation, cancels Pamela Geller event: JihadWatch
The Moral Vertigo of Ban Ki-Moon: PJM

A "Must See" Heart Wrenching Video of Moral Deterioration in China: Mish (Caution: Graphic)
Pro-Israel Activists Take on SJP at Columbia University: NoisyRm
More Trouble in France: Mayotte Riots: PJM

Sci-Tech

Google Encrypts Search to Thwart Wi-Fi Hackers: Wired
Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users: Crunch
Three killer deals on 1st-gen iPads: CNet

Cornucopia

Occupy the White House 2012: We’re Not Leaving: MOTUS
Obamacare's a Trap!: Modicum of Insanity
Where's my certified letter? My telephone conversation from hell with a postal supervisor: Marathon

Image: Zero Hedge
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Michele Bachmann for President

QOTD: "Italy and Spain together have just under €2.5 trillion worth of general government debt outstanding. Tradable Spanish and Italian sovereign debt alone amounts to €2.1 trillion. Adding Greece, Ireland and Portugal raises general government debt to €3.1 trillion and tradable government debt to €2.6 trillion. Adding Belgium would raise these totals to €3.5 trillion and €2.9 trillion. In the perhaps unlikely case that France would need sovereign debt insurance, targeting the stocks rather than the flows would require taking care of €5.1 trillion of gross sovereign debt or €4.3 trillion of tradable government debt.

These numbers are beyond the size of even the most optimistic estimates of the most audacious of rescue umbrellas." --Tyler Durden

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

President Obama's escaped teleprompter issues statement from Las Vegas



It's come to this: Obama campaign's new fundraising site makes it impossible to know how much your credit card will be charged

Oh, this should be good.

In honor of tonight's GOP debate, the Obama campaign created a bizarre "Debate Bingo" website that makes it virtually impossible for donors to predict how much their credit cards will be charged (no link, intentionally).

Pick one or more phrases and an amount -- and your credit card will be charged that amount multiplied by the number of times the Obama campaign says the phrase(s) were mentioned. Well, that could certainly get expensive.

Call it "Click and Trust".

Although, since the president's party has a long history of registering dead voters, felons and illegal immigrants, I'm not sure I'd actually click or trust.

If you have a few extra bucks, pony up -- exactly the amount you want -- for H-E-R-M-A-N C-A-I-N.


Hat tip: Snarky Basterd.

Odd: Democrats claim to be for the little people, yet "non-profits bear burden of Illinois' unpaid bills"

Society's weakest and most vulnerable hardest hit.

When the owner of a southern Illinois child care center didn't get the state funding he was promised on time and faced laying off employees and cutting service to low-income children, he borrowed money from family members to get by.

...And when an Elgin domestic abuse program was left stacks of unpaid bills and no sign of when the money would come from the state, workers took four weeks of unpaid furlough days, especially difficult for entry level employees earning $25,000 a year.

They are among the thousands of community groups and charities making up Illinois' system for providing human services: the state contracts out the work and agrees to make reimbursements. But as Illinois' budget crisis worsens and the state lags further behind in paying bills, those that serve the state's neediest are forced to make dire decisions and at-times heroic sacrifices to pick up the slack.

...Illinois ranks first nationwide when it comes to nonprofit groups reporting late payments from the government... More than 80 percent of Illinois groups say their money doesn't come on time.

The state's health services function alone has yet to pay 31,000 bills totaling $425 million.

Democrats in Illinois have prioritized payments, however: the top 100 public pensioners alone are estimated to pull in a guaranteed $887,925,790 over their retirements.


California Teachers' Pension System Gets Good News and Bad News. The Good: It's Not $50B In the Hole. The Bad: It's Actually $150B.

Looks like generally accepted accounting principles are anathema to Democrats. But we already knew that.

The California State Teachers' Retirement System already faces a funding gap of $56 billion – the difference between the money it expects to have on hand over the next 30 years and what it will need to pay out in benefits during the same period.

The [GASB or Governmental Accounting Standards Board] proposal would triple the gap – on paper – to around $150 billion...

Right now, funds base their calculation on a forecast of how their investments will do. CalSTRS, for instance, says it will earn an average 7.75 percent a year on stocks, bonds and other investments...

...But because public pensions are guaranteed by taxpayers, conservatives and some academics contend pension funds should use a rate comparable to a super-safe investment like Treasury bills – something on the order of 4 percent.

The state teachers' pension system is just one of several immense public pension liabilities facing California's taxpayers. A 2010 Stanford University study put the state's combined public pension liabilities at well over half a trillion dollars.

As you might expect in the battle between sensible fiscal policy and Democrats, Governor Moonbeam is backing -- that's right -- the unions, not the taxpayers:

The Los Angeles Times summarized the Brown signing and veto flurry with this headline: “Gov. Jerry Brown is giving unions most of what they seek.” As the news story reported, “When the dust settled on Gov. Jerry Brown’s first legislative session in nearly three decades, no group had won more than organized labor, which heralded its largest string of victories in nearly a decade.” Union leaders were crowing with delight.

For instance, the governor signed a bill that makes it nearly impossible for municipalities to declare bankruptcy, forcing them instead to go through a mediation process that is dominated by union supporters who would oppose bankruptcy at all costs. Salaries and benefits are consuming such a large portion of city budgets that officials have no choice but to shut down parks and lay off workers.

The unions won’t budge on benefits, so their goal is to make it impossible to abrogate those overly generous union contracts that are the source of the problem.

Isn't letting Democrats run wild in your state fun?

Of course, it's not much fun if you're a beleaguered taxpayer in California. That breed of productive citizen is an endangered species, what with all of the easy access to welfare, open borders and millions of pages of regulations.


Good News: OWS Organizers Now Sporting Neo-Swastikas

One of the world's best protest reporters -- Looking at the Left's "El Marco" -- was perhaps the first to notice the troubling iconography of the Occupy Wall Street crowd.

...An Occupy Denver community organizer [led] the bizarre chanting ritual. Never have I seen anything that comes as close to a mind-control exercise in a free society. The orange tape insignia on this woman’s arm indicates that she is a leader. I was told that any questions I had could be addressed to someone with this type of insignia.

When I first saw this militant-looking marking, it reminded me of the Order of the Double-Cross, made famous in the Charlie Chaplin movie, The Great Dictator.”

"Charlie Chaplin, with raised fist. comically portrays a famous mid-20th century socialist dictator speaking out against Jewish bankers and capitalists in general."

Kinda like Occupy Wall Street.


Via: Another of the world's best protest reporters: Zombie.

Larwyn's Linx: OWS Is Almost Entirely Socialist/Marxist

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Occupy

OWS Is Almost Entirely Socialist/Marxist: Ace
Obama and Occupy Wall Street Are One: DLimbaugh
Occupy Wall Street Defaces 9/11 Memorial Statue: PndtPrs

Obama Fist Bumps The Occupiers: Dossier
Occupy: Does anyone care about the anti-Semitism?: JRubin
Figures: CPUSA leader also Obama organizer: GWP

Nation

Obama: GOP Plan Means Dirty Air, Water, and No Health Care: Malkin
Crowd at non-campaign rally chants "Four more years!": Pundette
Lemme check--Yep, O still campaigning on taxpayers' tab: Hot Air

So. Okay to call this unpatriotic?: ProWis
Romney’s Bad Appointments Are Starting to Add Up: Tatler
10 Reasons You Should Vote for Herman Cain: AllAm

Economy

Obama Launches Cultural Warfare: Koffler
Why Is Class Hatred Morally Superior to Race Hatred?: Prager
Damn All This Progress!: Hayek

When Capitalism Fails You, Demand More: Hayward
Outsourcing Hits India: Mead
The Investment Risk That Obama Poses: NewsMax

Gunrunner & Energygate

Solyndra won’t talk about its contracts: Times
Issa: Holder hiding Fast and Furious facts: CBS
Solyndra debacle may be just the start: TMCnet

Climate & Energy

Obama Science Czar Led UN Effort to Hide Proceedings, Subvert FOIA, Records Indicate: CEI
Perry's Jobs Plan: Drill, Baby, Drill: IBD
BREAKING: An IPCC backchannel was established to hide IPCC deliberations from FOIA: Watts

Media

Media Study: We're Too Damn Biased Against Obama: Ace
Herman Cain nailed "Meet the Press.": Althouse
C-SPAN’s Washington Journal: A Platform for Defaming Israel and the Jewish People: CAMERA

So NOW it’s okay to report on Occupy Wall Street’s lack of racial diversity: Malkin
Harbinger: Jesse Jackson Jr. shares his thoughts on how to fix the economic crisis: Belmont Club
Mine Enemy Grows Older: American Digest

To Live or Die 'On the Floor': Cal Thomas
Denninger Is Right: Barnhardt
Heritage to Co-Host Debate with AEI, CNN: Foundry

World

America’s Future Tomorrow, Today In Greece! Part 471: RWN
London Exchange Access Curbed as Protests Spread: Bloomberg
Japan Intercepting Record Numbers of Chinese Planes: DefTech

France Risks AAA Rating on EFSF Leverage; Spotlight on Portugal, the Next to Fail: Mish
In Jordan and Gaza, Opposition to Teaching of Holocaust Studies at UNRWA Schools: MEMRI
A Muslim's journey: From antisemite to Zionist: JihadWatch

Sci-Tech

Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage: Wire
Twitter CEO: 250 million tweets a day--now what?: CNet
Should iPhone 3GS owners upgrade to iOS 5?: CNet

Cornucopia

Godspeed SSG Robert B. "Brian" Cowdrey: BlackFive
Michelle Offends the British: Surber
James Bond's Actual Rolex Watch Hits The Auction Block: Insider

Image: Looking at the Left
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Herman Cain for President

QOTD: "An Israeli soldier held for more than five years by the militant Palestinian group Hamas was traded on Tuesday for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in an elaborate trade that could shake up regional politics." --Ethan Bronner

Monday, October 17, 2011

The European Debt Crisis In Comic Book Form -- So Even Democrats Can Understand

It looks like the European bankers' can-kicking just ran out of road. The yield on a one-year bond from the country of Greece hit a new record high earlier today.

A yield of 172% means that bonds issued by Greece are worth just a few pennies more than the paper they're printed on. Put another way, Greece is dead bang certain to default on its debt.

European banks loaned Greece hundreds of billions of Euros -- the reasons don't matter at this point -- and were issued bonds in exchange for the money. The money's gone, spent on heaven knows what. And Greece is bankrupt, trying to make ends meet by laying off its bloated public sector union bureaucracy. That's why riots are occurring there on a near-daily basis.

Germany is considered the bulwark of the European banking system. But even Germany's most august financial institutions are up to their eyeballs in bad debt. For instance, Deutsche Bank alone has Є3.6 billion of debt issued by Greece (PDF).

Greece owes its creditors an amount equal to 162 percent of its entire gross domestic product (GDP, or the annual output of its economy). Without repealing the laws of mathematics (or Paul Krugman's alien invasion force dropping gold bars on Athens), there is no possible way this debt can be paid off.

The reason for the crisis boils down to this: the banks know they are going to take a horrific beating on their crappy investments (like debt issued by Greece). And they are doing everything possible to avoid recognizing those write-downs, because they do not have the requisite capital to continue operating normally if they do. Deutsche Bank's CEO, for example, is reported to be fighting even a 50% "haircut" (loss) on the Greek debt. But knowledgeable analysts say that a 50% markdown won't be nearly enough.

Worse still, there is the real possibility of "contagion". German banks aren't the worst offenders when it comes to exposure to Greece. French banks are in terrible shape, despite today's protestations by the governor of the Bank of France that "all is well". French institutions have suffered a series of downgrades over the past several months as their vulnerabilities became more evident. That is, to everyone except the governor of the Bank of France.

Oh, but I haven't even gotten to the worst part. Greece is only the beginning of Europe's debt insanity:

European banks have total exposure of $998.7 billion to Italy, $774 billion to Spain and $532 billion to Ireland versus just $162.4 billion to Greece.

Talk of a rescue package for Greece -- which hasn't yet been finalized because no one wants to pony up -- doesn't even contemplate much larger defaults like those of Spain and Italy. Yields on Italian 10-year bonds are now nearing the deadly 6 percent mark, which signal weakening confidence in that country's ability to make good on its debts.

Riots are underway in Italy this week to protest the government's handling of the financial crisis.

This is only the beginning of the shakeout. The worst has yet to unfold.

* * * * * * * * *

The European socialist welfare states are collapsing before our eyes. What we are seeing in Europe is a preview of the Obama-Democrat agenda writ large. Socialism can't work, won't work, and has never worked in all of human history.

2012 may very well be our last chance to save this precious Republic.

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done. --Ronald Reagan


And now, a word from our sponsor: SmartCart


Credit: TheBad.

I've started my own Occupy movement

And I encourage all Constitutional conservatives to join it.


Larwyn's Linx: A Lesson about Crony Capitalism for the #OWS Crowd

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Occupation Protests

A Lesson about Crony Capitalism for the #OWS Crowd: AT
Occupy Wall Street and Jewish bankers: Baehr
Here are your 1 percent-ers: Obama’s bundlers: Malkin

Thousands of OWS Protesters Cheer Communist Thugs: GWP
Deadbeats, Dopers and Democrats Occupy Denver: LATL
History tries to repeat itself with #OccupyWallStreet: BlkInf

Why, Yes, Obama Will Co-opt OWS Into A Campaign Theme: RWN
#OWS Hatred, Violence, and Antisemitism Compilation: PndtPrs
Cronies: Political extortion created Zuccotti Park: WSJ

Nation

Did 2008 Come True?: Hanson
Not a good day for the President: Where Are My Keys?
Intrepid Crime Fighter Or, Politically-Driven Leaker?: ILP2P

Lenin’s 99 Percenters: NoisyRm
Adult leadership comes from the House, not Obama: Barone
Romney's Smoking Gun Picture: AT

Economy

More Reasons to Like Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Tax Plan: LoneCon
Mort Zuckerman: Hey, This Obama Is Kind Of a SCOAMF, Isn't He?: Ace
Former Fed colleagues praise Herman Cain: Politico

Can We Credibly Compare the Current Economic Crisis to the Great Depression?: AmPower
The Trap the Left Has Created For Itself: RWN
The Chart That Should Get Obama Fired: HyScience

Gunrunner & Energygate

Is this any way to run a coverup?: SSI
Green Tesla Motors: Another Day, Another Solyndra: PJM
Wake Up And Smell The Stupid: Occupy DC Goes Solar: Soylent

Media

Stand Against Evil - Never Let it Win: Zilla
CNN: Rick Perry's Energy Plan is Stupid: Ace
Journolist 2.0: OccupyDC Emails Show MSM, Dylan Ratigan, Working With Protesters To Craft Message: Loesch

Full Interview: Herman Cain on Meet the Press: Scoop
Does Obama Endorse This?: WklyStd
We can afford to be average no more: TL in Exile

World

Breaking Tehran: Iran is at war with us, and we must win: McCarthy
Never have so few been blamed for so much by so many: Spengler
DNCC Chair, Rep. Israel Adds OWS to the List of Anti-Israel/Anti-Semitic Causes He Supports: Lid

Pics From the Front: WZ
21st Century Statecraft: Meet The Private-Public Partnership Supporting #ArabSpring & #OccupyWallSt: LUR
Organizer Behind “Occupy Wall Street” Has History of Anti-Jewish Writing: Commentary

Sci-Tech

Sights and sounds of the old and new Lancia Stratos in San Marino: Autoblog
Get (almost) any Verizon phone for a penny: CNet
2011 tech industry graveyard : NetWorld

Cornucopia

Cherry Picking More POWS: "Resist We Much": MOTUS
The 100-year old insurance agent: CNN
Moneyball Review: Viking Pundit

Image: iMaksim
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support Herman Cain for President

QOTD: "...even as we marvel at the perfidy of our leaders, conservatives have something to cheer in this failure. [The CLASS Act] is the first major component of Obamacare to collapse under its own weight, but by no means is it likely to be the last. The law is replete with nonsensical economic assumptions and shameless gimmicks. Democrats may have hoped these would not start to become clear until after the 2012 election, but we now already have a good idea of what the world will look like under Obamacare: waivers for the politically connected, rising premiums for the rest of us, and massive spending programs that can’t survive their own assumptions. " --NRO

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Batman weighs in on #OWS

Via Ace o' Spades:

"I am the one percent"


Seafood dinner in the age of Obama



Hat tip: Bernie

The Overt and Underlying Message of #OWS

Hundreds of "Occupation" protesters were arrested today including 175 in Chicago and 45 in Phoenix. Yesterday, several police officers were hospitalized after protests turned violent in Manhattan.

Democrat leaders praised the protesters' condemnation of Wall Street bankers and "millionaires and billionaires".

As have Communists, Nazis, George Soros, ACORN, and the SEIU.

And protesters continued to demonize Jews.

Curiously, the President is targeting -- by name -- America's only Jewish Republican Congressman. Days ago, Obama publicly pilloried Cantor, whipping up the crowd with statements like, "I'd like Mr. Cantor to come down here to Dallas and explain what in this jobs bill he doesn't believe in!"

Why would Obama not address the Speaker of the House -- the most powerful Republican in Congress -- John Boehner? Could it be because Boehner isn't Jewish, but Cantor is?

And why won't Democrats distance themselves from the overt anti-semitism seen at these protests? Not to mention the hatred and the violence?

The reader is left to speculate on these mysteries and the media's kid-glove treatment of the protesters.