Perhaps Europe can't pull the US economy down

Interesting charts in today's Wall St. Journal.  It shows US exports to Europe to be only 1.2% of US GNP.   That means the entire continent could disappear from the face of the earth and we would only loose 1.2% of GNP in export sales.  To be real, Europe won't disappear completely, worst that can happen is it drops into recession and it's US imports drop off somewhat.
   Somewhat larger, Eurozone banks make loans to the US equal to 10.5% of  US GNP.  If things get bad enough in Europe, and enough Eurozone banks fail, that lending can dry up.  But so what?  We have plenty of banks over here, and we can print as much money as well like to fund loans.
   In short, a Euro meltdown won't hurt us nearly as much as it hurts the Europeans.  Of course plenty of US politicians are already pointing fingers at Europe to explain miserable US growth rates.  How can you tell when a politician is lying to you?   When you see his lips moving.

Words of the Weasel Part 29

Heard this morning on good old NPR.
"The discussions are on going". 

Plain English meaning.   "Nothing has happened" 

What Price pills?

Anything you want apparently.  My doctor has prescribed me seven pills to keep body and soul together.  I had been getting them for free thru Medicare Advantage.  Then all of a sudden, my Visa got zapped for $180 on the last refill.  Ouch.
  So it being time for new prescriptions anyhow, I took the new ones down to Walmart.   After a half an hour (spent browsing Walmart) they gave me a grocery bag full of pills and paperwork, for a mere $81.  For three months worth.  Not so bad. 
    So before I put all the new pills in the medicine cabinet I read some of the paperwork.  Each bottle of pills comes with four pages of paperwork, run off on the pharmacy's laserprinter.  Aside from the name of the pill and a number, the paperwork is all the same.  Boilerplate.  I should be happy that despite this government required cost enhancement Walmart is still cheaper than Medicare Advantage. 

So how bad is it in Europe? Really?

Hard to tell.  Germany, the biggest part of Europe is reported to be doing well.  A few small fry like Iceland and Ireland have already suffered financial collapse and bailout.  They are poorer now, but doing OK.  Greece is getting a bailout, but they are bitching about the conditions the bailer outers (Germans mostly) have demanded.  If the Greeks manage to irritate the bailer outers enough, the bailout will stop.  Then the Greeks will run out of money and have to print their own to keep going.  It will be tough on them, but heh, you want to speak politely to those who are giving you money.  Either way,  Greece is a sideshow. 
   Italy and Spain, both much bigger than Greece, are having the same problems.  To many government "workers" and pensioners demanding monthly checks and not enough tax revenue coming in.  Private investors have indicated that they won't lend either country much (if any) more dough.  They have to cut spending (lay off government "workers" and cut pensions) and get their economy growing again. That means scrapping no-layoff regulations, and dropping license requirements that keep the unemployed from taking jobs.  Spain and Italy are too big for anyone to bail out.  Nobody has that big a bucket.  If this doesn't work, they will have to print money or IOU's (which probably amounts to dropping out of the Euro) to make ends meet.
  The financial press and blogs are beginning to cry terror about Europe.  Undoubtedly some banks have been stupid and will get hosed when the defaults begin.  Too bad.  The world would be better off with fewer stupid banks. But the majority of European countries are doing OK (not great but reasonably OK), and having a few losers get flushed won't be the end of the world.
 

Crusading for Gaia

NPR is deeply into it.  Just listened to the second segment of a rant against a copper mine going into Mongolia.  To hear NPR tell it, this mine is ruining the Gobi desert, polluting the water, corrupting the noble Mongolian nomads.  A third segment is promised for tomorrow. 
  So far, NPR has quoted a few locals bitching and one local who claims the water level in his well has dropped a whole eight inches this year.  And the mine is spoiling the ambiance of the Gobi desert. 
  No mention of how many people are employed at the mine.  No mention that the living standard in Mongolia hasn't improved since Genghis Khan's time. 

No Kidding

"US regional airlines that can weather industry shakeout may thrive."   Title of article in Aviation Week.  Surely those that don't weather the industry shakeout won't thrive, they will be dead.  

Longest and strongest or C

The old advice for taking multiple guess tests, like SAT.  The answer with the most qualifications (longest and strongest) is more likely to be right.  "C" comes from the observation that the test makers don't like to place the right answer first (A) or last (D). 
   Heard a piece on NPR this morning.  Someone digitized the last twenty years of the Congressional Record.  They didn't say just how this super tedious chore was accomplished.  Text scanning I hope.  Keyboarding that much pure political drivel  rates as cruel and unusual  punishment in my book. 
  Anyhow, the researcher ran all the congresscritter's speeches thru a school grading program that rated the maturity of the writing on a grade scale (12th grade, 11th grade, and so on).   Back in the good old days, the average speech used vocabulary and sentence structure on the 11th grade level.  In the decadent present day, the average has sunk to the 10th grade level.  Woe to the Republic.
   It was revealed that the grading program looked at sentence length and use of fancy vocabulary, with longer and stronger rating higher.  Funny, they taught me that good writing uses short declarative active voice sentences, and short strong Anglo Saxon root words, rather than the longer and weaker Latin root words.
   Perhaps the Congresscritters are actually getting better at speechmaking?
   Woe to the students whose teachers use that grading program.