Another Friday roundup of random news:
LinkSwarm for March 23, 2013
March 22nd, 2013Quick Cyprus Update for March 21, 2013
March 21st, 2013Cyprus crisis is a miniature version of the Greek crisis, and the Greek crisis is a miniature version of Europe’s crisis. The scale and details differ, but the underlying problem is mind-numbingly familiar: People spending too much of other people’s money with too little accountability. Cyprus bank bailouts are unsustainable in the same way that Greek government bailouts are unsustainable in the same way that the European cradle-to-grave welfare state is unsustainable.
How could it have been avoided? The same way any of the multitudes of financial crises that have rocked Europe in last several years could have been avoided: Don’t spend money you don’t have. That solution is both blindingly obvious and completely unacceptable to the Eurocratic elite (as well as our own liberal ruling class). After all, the bloated welfare state is where they get theirs. Nothing can be allowed to come between the permanent ruling class and their perks. Nothing.
Some current Cyprus news:
Once Greece hit the skids in 2010, it was inevitable that Cyprus would follow. Already by 2011 the government was effectively prevented from selling bonds by a junk credit rating. It resorted to a €2.5 billion ($3.2 billion) loan from the Russian government, due in 2016. The killer, though, was the pact reached in October 2011 to reduce the value of Greek government bonds by 70 percent. That produced a loss to the Cyprus banks of more than €4 billion—the same in proportion to the economy’s size as a $4 trillion loss in the U.S. President Demetris Christofias, seemingly not realizing the severity of the blow, agreed to the haircut without seeking offsetting aid for Cypriot banks. He eventually sought a bailout, but, befitting a left-wing politician who earned a doctorate in history in the Soviet Union, dragged his heels on cutting government spending while inveighing against the “troika” of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Losses mounted.
Reminder: Blog Meetup/Tweetup Saturday, March 23, 6 PM, Mangia’s on Mesa
March 21st, 2013Dwight of Whipped Cream Difficulties and I are having a conservative/gunner blogger meetup Saturday, March 23, at 6 PM, at
Mangia Pizza
8012 Mesa Dr., Austin, 78731
302-5200
Drop me a line at lawrenceperson at gmail dot com if you’re interested in attending and haven’t done so already.
I’ll be the one in the black polo shirt and black cargo pants…
Texas vs. California Update for March 20, 2013
March 20th, 2013Time for another Texas vs. California roundup! Just imagine how the MSM would crucify Rick Perry if the head of, say, the Texas Teacher’s Retirement System were indicted on multiple counts of felony fraud…
A grand jury in San Francisco charged Federico Buenrostro Jr. and Alfred Villalobos, and they were booked and released on bond Monday after briefly appearing in court.
Buenrostro, 64, served as CEO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System from late 2002 until June 2008. Villalobos, 69, served on the CalPERS board and is a former vice mayor of Los Angeles.
The indictment alleges the two conspired to fabricate documents that certified to federal regulators that Villalobos’ firm had obtained required “investor disclosure letters” from CalPERS to serve as a “transfer agent.” The indictment charges that the falsified documents allowed Villalobos to reap $14 million in fees for serving as a middleman between CalPERS and a prominent investment firm handling $3 billion in CalPERS’ money.
Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead Not Taking Our Guns
March 19th, 2013
The “assault weapon” ban of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-osen’t Know the Constitution) died before it could even reach the Senate floor.
What happened? The NRA-ILA happened. Ted Cruz happened. Actual voters happened. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid evidently didn’t have the clout to put the squeeze on members over gun control the way Nancy Pelosi did on Obamacare and taxpayer-funded abortions. That, or the fact there’s no way in hell the Republican House would pass a ban, Reid decided the political cost would be too high (including, very possibly, the loss of the Senate) for no legislative gain.
This is one of the times that the Senate’s glacial pace helped prevent knee-jerk liberal opportunism from making it’s way into law.
There’s still a lot of other bad gun control ideas floating around Washington, DC (not to mention out in the states), but at least we managed to kill this one.
Maybe in a few months I can buy an AR at a decent price…
Today’s Mid-Day Cyprus Roundup
March 19th, 2013Update: REJECTED!
Imagine a basketball being swatted back into Angela Merkel’s face…
A few updates on yesterday’s Cyprus bank deposit seizure story.
The EU creditor states have at a single stroke violated the principle that insured EU bank deposits of up $100,000 will be guaranteed come what may, and in doing so they have more or less thrown Portugal under a bus.
They have demonstrated that the rhetoric of EMU solidarity is just hot air, that they will not force their own taxpayers to share a single cent of clean-up costs for the great joint venture of monetary union – in which northern banks, insurers, pension funds, and indeed governments, were complicit.
Their refusal to pay is entirely understandable in one sense – and if I were a German taxpayer, I would not care to swallow these losses either – but then the leaders of these creditor countries can hardly expect the world to believe that they will in fact do whatever it takes to hold EMU together. Quite obviously, they will not.
The sooner this is made clear, the better. The sooner they take the proper course of withdrawing from EMU and organise the break-up the euro in the least disruptive way, the sooner Europe can recover.
It Begins
March 18th, 2013Chances are pretty low that you haven’t heard that the EU has decided to seize portions of people’s bank accounts in Cyprus as a condition of a bank bailout:
When Cyprus’s banks reopen on Tuesday morning, every depositor will have some of his or her money seized. Accounts under 100,000 euros will have 6.75% of the funds seized. Accounts over 100,000 euros will have 9.9% seized. And then the Eurozone’s emergency lending facility and the International Monetary Fund will inject 10 billion euros into the banks to allow them to keep operating.
It’s hard to express in words just how bad an idea this is. Europe has truly crossed the Rubicon.
“The establishment of the principle that a government can, and at times of economic strain must, help itself to your savings, and that this is a legitimate tool of statecraft, ought to provoke riots.”
I’ll go further: riots are not enough.
If I were one of the people having my wealth confiscated, the proper response to such actions would be join an angry mob hanging the still-twitching bodies of the people who proposed and passed such a measure over the nearest lightpost.
Think it can’t happen here? Remember, liberals have already floated the idea of seizing your 401K.
The Eurocrats in Brussels have already decided that they would prefer to seize people savings rather than let the Euro fail, or admit that the European cradle-to-grave welfare state is unsustainable. “The dream of political union matters more to Europe’s governing caste than the well-being of the people they represent.”
I didn’t post anything yesterday because I was trying to figure out how much money I should put into gold and silver to get ahead of the European bank runs I half anticipated. Indeed, in this case such bank runs would etirely rational But they haven’t started outside Cyprus itself.
Yet.
Ted Cruz’s CPAC Speech
March 17th, 2013Haven’t watched all of it yet, but it’s been getting rave reviews.
Ted Cruz Announces New PAC
March 16th, 2013Ted Cruz has announced he’s forming a new Jobs Growth & Freedom Fund PAC. Or rather, will be announcing it at 4:10 PM Eastern Time at CPAC. (You can watch Cruz’s address live.) “Our mission is to elect strong conservatives and to build a Republican Senate Majority in 2014.”
Cruz is “paying it forward,” since endorsements from Jim DeMint’s Senate Conservative Fund and the Club for Growth were hugely important in gaining early momentum in Cruz’s Republican primary fight. So far I think Cruz has done an excellent job as senator, so I kicked in a few shekels myself.
Ted Cruz Schools Dianne Feinstein
March 15th, 2013Nice exchange over gun control:
I’m pretty sure David Dewhurst would never have gotten under Dianne Feinstein’s skin, which is all the more reason we in Texas are happy we elected Cruz…