Is the Euro really doomed?

Probably not. The "United States of Europe" people want a more tightly integrated EU. They can get this by setting up a European Common Bank empowered to borrow money on the credit of the EU and use it to bail out Greece. So they are using the Greek debt crisis to push their pet hobbyhorse. Turning the EU into a United States of Europe would turn a lot of lack luster Brussels bureaucrats into officials of something big and powerful. And so they talk up economic doomsday scenarios to scare people into putting up the money.
The holdup of this plan is the German taxpayers. They correctly observe that an EU bailout of Greece will be done with their tax money, and under the control of Eurocrats rather than reliable German government officials and they see no reason to pony up that kind of money.
So sooner or later the Greeks will run out of other people's money and default. This will be tough on some stupid banks in Europe who loaned the Greeks wads and wads of Euros. Those banks won't get their money back. Some of them will probably go out of business on account of the humungous loss. Those banks are talking to their governments, and to the ECB, and saying "oh please don't make us loose all that money. Save us." And so, the EU keeps doling out money to Greece, and the Greeks give most of it back to the banks.
When the Germans cut off the money, Greece will default, and tell all those banks "Tough luck". Ought to happen inside of 6 months.
Question: Is this the end of the Euro? Probably not. It will be tough on Greece who will have to cut spending down to whatever they can raise by taxation. Or, Greece can drop the Euro, start up their own currency, and cover their deficit by printing fresh money.
But the biggies, France and Germany, want to stick with the Euro and so they will. All the other smaller countries on the Euro like Belgium and Holland will stick to enjoy the benefits of doing business with the biggies without the hassle and risk of currency swaps.
If they let three of four of the stupider banks go out of business, it will improve the competitiveness of the entire continent. Having stupid banks pour valuable capital down Greek drains does bad things for your economic growth.

UNH

NHPR ran a piece this morning wailing about funding for UNH. The president of the joint said they were only a few million short this year and it would (of course) get worse next year.
I have a few questions for UNH.
1. How many non teachers (administrators,janitors,secretaries, assistants and such) do they have on the payroll? That oughta be less than 5% of payroll.
2. Do their tenured professors teach 3 classes each term?
3. Do the students handle routine housekeeping, sweeping the floors, mowing the grass, shoveling snow, shelving books and washing dishes?
4. Do they fully utilize their expensive classrooms by conducting class on Saturdays as well as Monday thru Friday?

USPS

It's been a week since I last heard the Post Office whining about running out of other people's money. Seems like those 44 cent stamps have driven a lot of folk to paying their bills on line. Apparently bills are the only first class mail left, no body writes letters anymore, we telephone or email.
I am gonna miss that mailman (oops lettercarrier). He brings me the daily Wall St Journal, Netflix, the Economist, Commentary, Woodworkers Journal, and the Littleton Record. As many bits get into my house from those Netflix DVD's as come in on my sluggish broadband. On the other hand I wouldn't really miss the Franconia Post Office, I only buy stamps there to pay the bills with. I could buy them in Littleton no problem.

New Formats Available

Blogger has just offered a "change the look and feel" of your blog feature. At least that's what I think they are talking about. I looked at some of the options and decided to leave things as they are. What do you all think?
By the way, Blogger's picture load/edit process sucks. You cannot see your photos as you write the captions, and Blogger moves text around randomly which is why the captions don't come out under the right photos.

Leaf season is starting

The Echo lake parking lot. From the shore of the lake you can hear your voice reflect back from the granite cliffs in the background. We are in Franconia Notch State Park, which is best known for the Cannon Mt. ski resort.



Mittersill Inn Driveway. That one red tree was peak a couple of days ago when I took this photo. It's turning brown now.



The Mittersill Inn, a vast ski place high up in Franconia Notch. Built right after WWII by Baron Hubert Von Pantz, an Austrian nobleman from Mittersill Austria.



The Franconia Notch Bike trail, northern end, looking north. The bike trail runs many miles to come out at the Flume on the south side of the notch. Great ride.

Terra Nova

New TV show on Fox. Watched the two hour premiere last night. Story opens in a bad future, the air is so polluted they wear oxygen masks, the sky is yellow, food is running out, drastic population control measures are in place. Paul Erlich's "Population Bomb" mixed with greenie nightmares. The family (husband, wife, three children) escape by stepping thru a star gate like machine, and with a flash of light they are elsewhere, 85 million years into the past. We, the audience, are given to believe it is a one way trip.
Elsewhere is a frontier village complete with metal palisade, armored personnel carriers(APC), energy weapons, and model suburban housing inside the stockade. It's run by a compelling and hard core old guy with a gray beard named Taylor. Taylor has dinosaurs, rebels, and stupid teenage colonists to keep him busy.
Dialog can be dumbass. "Do you think we did the right thing?" wife asks husband after taking a one-way trip to elsewhere. Doesn't matter if it was or was not the right thing to do, you did it, and there is no way back.
Teenage son demonstrates proper teenage rebelliousness right off by skipping first day orientation class. He is picked up by a native chick who takes him on a "OTG" (outside the gate) expedition. The native teenagers have a still hidden in the woods, they proceed to get smashed and turned into dinobait. Native chick, (no name was given) turns out to be tough and crusty Taylor's daughter. She has inherited her old man's leadership qualities and is the dominant member of the teenage gang and has teenage son well under control. The show ends with a dino attack on the APC the teenagers have taken refuge in, and a rescue with lots of zap-zap of energy weapons.
Could have been better in the plot, dialog, and characterization departments, but I think I will watch the next episode.

Perry as a Pinata

Those Republican debaters have been whacking away at Rick Perry. But the things they whack the hardest on I have trouble with.
Perry as governor signed a Texas law to grant children of illegal immigrants the right to attend Texas state universities at resident's rates. Sure, that deviates from a hard line policy of making life tough for illegals. But I find it hard to get worked up about letting teenagers attend a state university at a price they can afford. I have a lot of sympathy for immigrants of all kinds, and letting a teenager get a college degree is a good deal for everyone. College degrees make productive, loyal, citizens who stay out of trouble, pay their taxes and raise families. That's all OK in my book.
Then Perry was talking about securing the border by patrolling it on the ground from SUV's and in the air from Piper Cubs. He was attacked for this and denounced as "anti fence". Dumb and dumber. Fences don't keep people out, people keep people out.
Then Michelle Bachmann jumped all over Perry about Guardasil, a cervical cancer vaccine that became mandatory on Perry's watch. Far as I know, Guardasil works, it's a little costly, but I didn't see requiring a vaccination as any different from all the other shots they require to attend public school. But they beat Perry about the head and shoulders over that one.
Heh, I'm not the worlds greatest Perry fan, matter of fact I sent someone else a campaigh contribution. But if we are going to trash a guy, let us do it over something real. These issues are pure BS.