The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson

A new book, which explores the impact upon history of Winston Churchill. Nicely written, by a Brit, who isn't afraid to use Britishisms (prang, hop it) in his writing.  Without Churchill the Brits probably would have caved to Hitler in 1940.  The British establishment, the aristocracy, the press, the professoriat, the business men, Parliament, the general staff, everyone who counted in England, was convinced that the Germans had overwhelming strength.  They had gobbled up Norway, kicked the Allied intervention force out of Narvik, crushed France completely, occupied all the low countries, and driven the BEF into the sea at Dunkirk.   Germany had  twice the population of England, and a bigger industrial base.  And England was still licking the wounds of the first world war.  Nobody in England wanted to go thru that again, ever. 
   Hitler offered a deal that summer, broadcast it over German radio.  It ran roughly like this.  "I will let you Brits keep your Fleet and your Empire, in return you let me keep control of the continent."  Had Britain accepted, the war in the west would have ended right there.  The Americans were still paralyzed by isolationism, when (and if) Pearl Harbor happened, they would have gone off into the Pacific and ignored Europe.  Hitler would have doubtless attacked the Russians, and without the Brits harrying his rear, the Germans might have crushed Stalin's regime that first summer.  As it was, they nearly did it.  Guderian's panzers got close enough to Moscow to capture a few stations on the trolley line to Moscow.  Just a little bit more, and Moscow would have fallen to the Wehrmacht. 
   Johnson describes the key meeting between Churchill, newly elected as Prime Minister, and his war cabinet, the top five guys in the British government.  Churchill was for fighting on.  Everyone else was against the idea.  Finally Churchill adjourned the meeting until 7 PM, and called a larger meeting of the entire cabinet, some 25-30 people.  Churchill made the case for continued resistance to the larger group.  Somehow, his words caught fire with his audience, the full cabinet applauded.  When the five man war cabinet reconvened at 7 that evening, they proceeded to plan for war.  And the Brit rank-and-file was made of tougher stuff than their establishment, they backed Churchill all the way.
   I think Boris Johnson's analysis is just about right.  If the Brits had caved to Hitler in 1940, the Nazi's would probably still be there, running all of Europe. 

Hard Winter

How do I know?  Simple, I have dug down so far in the old newspaper basket that I am starting the fire with old newspapers from two years ago.  And my wood pile is pretty much gone. 

Europe is further down the drain

Than the US is.  This week's  Economist showed a couple of telling charts.  Chart 1 shows the European tax load for each employee.  The Euro average is 30%.  Each employee hired, hikes the employer's taxes by 30% of the new hire's wages.  In short, new employees cost 30% more in taxes that what the company has to pay them.  Pricey.
   In the US the tax load is only 20%. 
   And we have a graph of "protection against layoffs", on an arbitrary scale.  Europe has an average of 2.5, with Portugal leading the pack at 3.  The US is only 0.25.  The Brits are doing better than the European average at 1.0.   Granted it's nice for workers to be protected against layoffs.  But it slows the overall economy if companies know they cannot layoff workers when business gets bad.  To avoid being stuck with  well paid workers with full benefits, companies simply do not hire.  Which accounts for Europe's horrible unemployment rate.     Supporting data for the notion of American exceptionalism.  America's economy is far better than the EU economy because of less tax load on employment and more labor mobility, companies are willing to hire and grow because they know they won't be stuck with unneeded workers in a business slowdown. 
   The Europeans have much cushier social welfare, but the cost is massive unemployment.   Which would you rather have, a job, or cushy government benefits and unemployment for 10% of the workforce?

The surveillance state reaches out

So I bought an HO model railcar.  Inside the box was a slip of paper offering to sell me a $4 decal sheet of different road numbers.  $4, last of the big time spenders. 
  In the upper right hand corner was this:  "Due to banking restrictions, we are no longer able to accept checks or money orders drawn on non-US banks (includes postal money orders)."
Wow!  $4 checks or money orders might aide terrorism.  Or stamp out money laundering.  $4, big money that.  Or US banks want to stick it to overseas competitors?  with Uncle Sam's help? 
Clearly some Treasury Dept snivel servant has too much free time if he can think up Mickey Mouse like this. 

Clothes shopping for Guys

Depressing mostly.  I'm going to my 55th high school reunion shortly and I thought at my age I ought not to show up in khakis out at the knee.  Littleton really only has Walmarts for guys clothes.  I both a few there and then for variety, I drove over to North Conway to shop the world famous outlet stores. 
  Weather was poor.  Overcast, cold, snowing thru Crawford Notch.  Great Depression 2.0 has been hard on North Conway, it shows.  Numerous strip malls and outlet stores closed and empty.  North Conway is a pure tourist town, anchored by the ski area on Mt. Cranmore (home of the eccentric ski mobile lift) and a main street (Rt 16) wall to wall outlet stores.  Granted it is mud season, inbetween ski season and summer season, but still, the number of dead storefronts was discouraging.
   Then it's hard to find stores that carry stuff in my size.  The racks are all full of shirts too small to fit my sons, let alone me.  The slacks are all 34 waist by 36 inseam, I haven't worn a  34 waist since high school, which was 55 years ago.  The shirts are mostly knit tee shirts with collars, the few shirts tailored from real woven cloth cost $50 apiece, a ripoff  IMHO.  Even more depressing are the LL Bean khakis with only the waist size marked.  They expect you to find a tailor to cuff the inseam at the right length.  Great, I'm really gonna get wash pants tailored, even $65 a pair wash pants. 
   Dunno what the chicks see in clothes shopping. 

"Investing" in the Balsams.

For those readers outside of New Hampshire, the Balsams was a big old summer resort way up in northern NH, up in Dixville Notch.  Times were hard, and the Balsams went out of business a few years ago.  Now there is a push to revive the Balsams.  Adding urgency is the collapse of the paper industry in northern NH.  All the mills are now closed, and the northern mill towns like Berlin and Clearbrooke and Lancaster are hurting.  The hurt is so bad you can see it just driving thru town.  So naturally everyone in Coos County is in favor. 
  Trouble is, the developer[s] are saying they need government support to the tune of at least $28 million in cash, and more in loan guarantees.  Money to come maybe from the state, and maybe some from Coos county.  Loan guarantees to come from the State.  Which means the taxpayers cover the developer's risks.  If the project goes belly up in a few years,  my tax dollars make good the developer's losses. 
  The real question is, can the Balsams be made to work?  To make enough money to pay its suppliers, its workers, and service its debt.  Good question, which nobody is asking.  The Balsams is way far north, too far north to attract Boston skiers.  The drive is just too long.  The Canadians don't ski in NH much, they go north to Mt. Tremblant in Quebec.  Tremblant gets more snow and more cold than NH 'cause it's 150 miles further north. 
   I'd like to see a real business plan, one that shows how many skiers, hikers, snowmobilers, and others it needs to cover projected costs.  I haven't seen it yet. 
   I'm OK with spending my tax money to bring some business and employment to hard stricken Coos country.  But I'd like to see that the money has a chance of doing some good rather than just getting flushed down the drain.

Grilling Hillary

The MSM is sure putting up a lotta flak aimed at Hillary.  The uranium thing being the latest.  Could it be that the MSM doesn't like her?  And is any of the flak scoring?  The registered democrats (yellow dog democrats) will vote democratic no matter what.  The registered republicans will vote against her no matter what.  What are the independents thinking?  
I notice that the Hillary camp isn't saying much, or at least isn't getting their side of the story out to TV.  Silence gives assent.  If she doesn't say something, the mud will stick. 
If the flak brings down Hillary, who will the democrats run?  And will he/she/or it be any better? Or easier to beat?   
Inquiring minds want to know.