Calderon Cauldron

In case you haven't heard Mexico's President Calderon said that he does not object to the US putting National Guardsmen on the boarder with Mexico as long as they do not arrest Mexicans trying to cross the border into the US!

Have you ever heard such nonsense? What are they supposed to do? Give them a cool Daisani and a voucher for a free hotel stay at the nearest hotel?

He went on to say, "They have a commitment to uphold the law on the American side and not to use the National Guard for immigration purposes or deal with immigration issues."

Three things....1) Who cares whether he objects or does not object to how we use our National Guard! It is our National Guard not his! The day we seek permission to station our National Guard units on our own land is the day we loose our sovereignty.

2) Upholding legal immigration is the law so the second statment is mute! As he should be.

and finally,
3) He is an idiot!

Crisis Imperils Liberal Benefits Long Expected by Europeans

... or so reports the New York Times.
I was very surprised by this little gem.

"In Sweden and Switzerland, 7 of 10 people work past 50. In France, only half do."

I guess that means that the average worker (not the average person) works for about 30 years, which is about 1/3 of a lifetime depending whose numbers you use. Let's assume one lives on his parent's dime (with obvious government aid in terms of schooling and social medicine) for the first 20 years. So that means that unless the average worker has saved up 30 to 40 years worth of living expenses, he/she will be living off of other people's money. I seriously doubt your average Euro worker has that much in savings, so they must be living on other people's money. Who are these other people? Not the current tax payers. They are paying for the previous generation. The other people are future taxpayers, probably a generation or two in the future. The morality of taking care of the elderly, sick, and downtrodden mostly doesn't apply in this case. The average worker can surely work past 60 and beyond. I plan to do so. It's immoral to take from future generations to help us feel good about ourselves today.

You might all get a kick out of this!

William Tell Overture Mom. She's got it down good!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0ZpuA8_YYk

Moving Right, Moving Left

In Utah, Senator Bennett (R) lost his seat in the Republican caucus. Representative Matheson (D) has been forced into a primary race, his first. Bennett lost his seat because he was not conservative enough, though he has a very conservative voting record. Matheson may survive, but his troubles stem from his vote against the health care reform bill, which has be a litmus test of sorts for liberals. Could all of this mean that the Right is moving right and the Left if moving left? It appears to me that the left and right are demanding ideological purity. How this trend will play out in the next several years is impossible predict, but my sense is that it will be more advantageous for Conservatives, but I admit to a bit of cheer-leading in stating this opinion.

The Greek Slippery Slope

Greece is in crisis. Its government has failed financially, it can no longer meet its obligations.

There are those in our country who point to Obama and his administration and claim that he is dooming us to the same desperate state Greece now must rectify. The pundits on the right are claiming, as they always do, that one step towards the left will indelibly lead us to full socialism. That's a shame.

There are many countries which are more socialistic in their approaches to governing than we are and which are doing no worse than we, indeed better! This list is long.

Yet the right is correct about some things regarding Greece. Balance and common sense in government programs must exist. The right is correct when it says that entitlements are dangerous because they can cause a decrease in self-reliance. The Greeks have been unwise. The have fostered entitlements to an exaggerated point. Retirement payments for some (maybe most) at 100% of quitting year salary! The State of Utah pays 60% of quitting year salary for its employees, but guess what? That is going to change. Newly hired workers for the State of Utah can now look forward to only a 45% plan of quitting year salary. My social security benefits will comprise only about 35-40% of what I will be making at retirement at 66 years old. If I want to live at the same rate of income (100% of what I was making while working), it is up to me to make up the difference before or during retirement. I have been diligently doing so.

Health care presents similar problems. Indeed, I can plan for most everything, even some awful level inflation, but the wild card that threatens even the most financially prudent (who is not in the privileged classes - who can buy their way out of medical disaster) is that of health care.

The goal of social security and health care should be to provide safety nets that ensure bare and reasonable minimum standards of living for all. Greece is a bad example of how this works, Canada, Denmark and many others are good examples of what is possible. Our country must address our problems of accessibility and affordability to health care all the while maintaining the safety net of social security in all its forms. Yet we must not follow the example of the foolish Greeks.