"Austerity isn't working" sez Euro Lefties

Euro softies, (Greece, Spain, Italy, and now France)  are whining about "austerity".  Socialism has run out of other people's money.   The Softie countries are spending, and want to keep on spending, a good deal more than their tax revenues.  Since they joined the Euro, they can't print money, unlike the US.  More and more they cannot borrow the money, 'cause nobody in their right mind would give them a loan, for fear the loan won't get paid back.  The Germans are the only Euro country with real amounts of money, and the German taxpayers see no reason to give that money away to the softie countries. 
About the only things left are to issue IOU's like California did, or drop out of the Euro so they can print  the money they want to spend.  Nobody is talking about those alternatives.  So far, the citizens of the softie countries like the Euro because it holds it's  value.   They know that savings in lira or drachma or francs are worth less and less as time goes by, whereas savings in Euro's will be worth the same in the future.  What the future of IOU's is nobody knows, they don't talk about it.
   So,  the softie governments have to cut spending or run out of money.  This means laying off "workers" from the government payroll, canceling cost of living hikes, freezing wages, and squeezing down pensions.  Nobody likes this much.
   And nobody is talking about economic growth, which is the only way out.  Was I running a country (I'm not) I'd make a list of all the industries in my country and rank them by size.  Start with the big ones and see what could be done to make them grow.  Things like removing export restraints (ITAR regulations for instance), issuing needed permits, rationalizing the tax burden, making well educated labor available, encouraging research and development,  fostering competition,  improving transportation, lowering electric power prices, and publicizing quality control measures (things like Appellation Controlee and ISO 9000)

Sherlock

It's a new Masterpiece Mystery Theater offering.  I watched the first episode on PBS last night.  This Sherlock Holmes is right up to date, operates in 2012 London.  Trades the magnifying glass for a smart phone.  Watson is a blogger.  It was disappointing.  Holmes  talks funny (too fast) and comes across as a terminal nerd who dislikes people, the detective business, and is rude to every one.  We open with Holmes dispatching Watson to a crime scene with a laptop.  Holmes remains at Baker street and surveys the clues thru the laptop's webcam.  Weird. Irene Adler makes her entry in the nude, and even after putting on a few clothes she just doesn't click as femme fatale.   Why Holmes would want to get involved with her remains a mystery.
   I won't make any special effort to catch the following episodes.
   

Treasure Island

Just yesterday I caught a favorable review in the WSJ.  So I watched it last night.  It's a made for TV miniseries on the SyFy channel.  It's good.  We all know (or ought to know the story) so I won't say much about it.  The cast were all pretty good.  Jim Hawkins was a bit older ( looked to be 18 or 19) than is traditional, but well acted.  Long John Silver gave up his traditional long greasy locks for a whiffleball haircut.  The pirates were convincingly villainous.  And best of all, this version of the great sea story actually went to sea.  So many Treasure Islands are filmed on dry land, with nary a wave slopping on deck, or a sail being hoisted.  For this one they have a real sailing vessel, a big top sail schooner, just right to be the Hispaniola.
   All in all, a fine production.  Keep an eye on SyFy, they ought to rerun this if you missed it.  It didn't get much publicity or netbuzz,  I only heard about it yesterday in the Journal, after the first episode (with Donald Sutherland as Captain Flint) had aired.    

"Corporations are not People" sez Obama

I heard that this morning on NPR.  I forget the exact wording, but Obama made it plain that he detests corporations and will play catchup on their backsides any time he can.
   The bulk of us Americans are stakeholders in America's corporations.  We work for them, get paid by them, hold their stock, build up our retirement savings thru them, and get our health care from them.  Corporations provide food, clothing, shelter, fuel, transportation, entertainment, and all those material things that make American life what it is.  American wealth, power, prestige, and well being come from our corporations, they sure don't come from the Obama Administration.  American corporations are a powerful force for good in the entire world. 
   And our president hates them.

Are We Selling Ipads or Infinitis?

Hard to tell.  The Infiniti (it's a Japanese SUV) ad shows a guy using voice recognition to speak with the car's computer.  He has forgotten his anniversary and the computer makes amends by  making reservations for two at a fancy restaurant.  While on the move.  Pretty slick.  I'm not sure if an Ipad is that clever, surely my XP running desktop ain't that smart.
   But, we are selling a car in this ad, not super smart smart phones.  If that kind of electronic smarts is commercially available, I don't want it built into my car.  I want it in a portable, fit under the arm package, that I carry into work.  I don't want to leave that clever an electronic assistant out of doors in an unheated company parking space.  I want it with me. 
    And, the Infiniti ad didn't talk about engine displacement, brakes, handling, cargo capacity, fuel economy, fitting skis or bikes or plywood onto the roof,  rear seat amusements for kids, you know, real car stuff.  Does any one still sell cars? 

Farewell to American honor

A Chinese dissident, let's call him Shades,  breaks free of house arrest, makes it to the US embassy for protection.  Pusillanimous US diplomats turn the poor slob back over to the Chinese.   That's probably a death sentence for him and his family.   We need to rewrite our national anthem.  Strike out that line about the home of the brave. 

Motor Tricycle

The Can Am Spyder Roadster.  It's getting heavy ad play on Fox.  It's not a product that I would touch with a ten foot pole.  When I get the urge to sample the breeze on the road, I want a real motorcycle.  On a cycle you can lean into the turns, and with good rubber on a dry road, you can out turn anything else on wheels.  No way are those tricycles going the lean into a turn, corner one too hard and it rolls over.  Which is hard on the head even wearing helmets.   Despite the heavy ad play, I have yet to see one on the road around here.