European-style Socialism sucks: trust me, I've lived through it

The mental image that many Americans have when someone brings up the 'European lifestyle' is of relaxed Continental, metro-sexual types sipping espresso on a Tuesday morning in Paris, while soaking up the glorious morning sun at a sidewalk bistro on the Champs de Elysee.

.

That image is as accurate as that of the typical European, who is asked to describe their mental image of the typical 'American lifestyle:' a cowboy decked out in spurs, chaps and cowboy hat, up on their horse out on the trail, lassoing stray cattle on the cattle drive, all the while blasting away with his six shooter at marauding Indians. .

Having lived in Europe for 6 long years during two tours of duty in the U.S. Army, I have considerable insight into how the typical, real life European lives on a day to day basis, and I am here to tell you, those folks lounging about sipping their espressos on the Champs de Elysee are far, far, FAR from typical. .

Western Europe has embraced gigantic taxes to finance their socialist way of life since World War II. Not burdened by having to pay for battleships, aircraft carriers and tanks (the United States pays for all of that, you see), they are free to use that tax money to provide free health care, finance 35 hour work weeks, month long vacations in August, lucrative and opulent pensions beginning at 55 for life, and on, and on, and on..........

.

But what are the costs for all of this socialism? Nearly all European countries, and most noticeably Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain (P.I.I.G.S.), are floundering in crippling debt and bankruptcy. England is not far behind, nor is Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and many other socialist countries in Western Europe.

.

And the reason these countries are bankrupt are not that they all live in 4,000 square foot mansions, sip Dom Perignon champagne morning, noon and night and race off to fabulous parties in Monte Carlo in their Lamborghinis: the lifestyle of the typical European is as opposite of that as day is to night.

.

Quite the opposite, in fact: the average European family (4 members and shrinking) lives in a small, dingy apartment of perhaps 700 square feet. This average family has no car, but rather has to depend on the public transportation system, which is enormously expensive and inefficient. If a family does buy a car, it is not a Lamborghini, but rather a Citroen 'Duck,' a chintzy cheap piece of sh*t that gets around 40 mph, has a top speed of 60 mph (100 kph), and they fill the tank with $8.00/gas (benzine). Parking is another enormous expense, and accordingly, most European families do without these luxuries. Yes, cars are luxuries in Europe, whereas they are necessities in the U.S.

.

The average size refrigerator is smaller in the typical European household than you would see in any typical college dorm room in the U.S. Accordingly, Europeans don't have much room for food storage, and must make daily trips (within walking distance) to the local grocery store to buy the daily meals. Savings available to U.S. citizens via mega-stores like Safeway, Piggly Wiggly, Super Walmarts and so-on are non-existent. Europeans pay full blown retail for their food, as deep freezers are completely alien to most Europeans.

.

Taxes: All Europeans pay at least half if not more of their incomes in taxes. Income, sales, excise, property and value added: all of these are piled onto everything Europeans buy. In Germany, if a family has a TV, a tax is levied on the TV annually. Just like the Beatles song goes, if you take a walk, they tax your feet. Taxes are cripplingly high in Europe, and they still can't make ends meet, even though they scarcely contribute a dime for their national defense (the U.S. picks up the tab here). Paying these taxes assumes that the European is employed, which would be a spotty assumption: the European unemployment rate has hovered around 11% for most of my adult life, and they consider that 'normal levels.'

.

Life is cramped, Spartan and at times downright mean in Europe. Socialism is expensive, unsustainable, and living in a socialist system downright sucks. Trust me, I've been there and done that.

.

And we are heading in that direction.

Teacher's unions will be the death of us all

'Waiting for Superman' is a film highly critical of our educational system, and particularly the public teacher's unions who hold our children's futures hostage for their own pathetic benefit. There is no greater evil present among the civilized than those who use children as pawns, whether hiding behind them as Islamic terrorists do to avoid being shot at and bombed, or these public teachers unions who through the tenure system deny our children a decent education because they are more concerned about their lucrative and indecent public pensions than they are about the quality of children's education and their future.

.

This film was not directed and co-written by a radical, right wing conservative: Davis Guggenheim also produced Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' which leans decidedly left in its views on the man made global warming hoax.

.

Public teachers unions are killing our education system as well as killing our global competitive position in the marketplace because they value teacher tenure over teacher accomplishment. Public teachers are not promoted and retained because of core competencies at their specific topic of education. Not at all. The teachers union retain and promote teachers solely on how long they have been paying their union dues, i.e. tenure. A public teacher in many of our districts gains tenure after a measly three years in the classroom, and accordingly a secure job for their lifetime regardless of how they perform in that classroom.

.

All labor unions, regardless of the business they are involved in, strive to achieve one and only one goal for their members: more guaranteed pay for less work. That immutable fact is simply not arguable whatsoever. Teachers unions are no different: rather than work until age 65 at their trade and then retire, these insidious public teacher unions have bullied and threatened via strike tactics to reduce the length of time their members work until retirement (age 52 in many public school districts, or 30 years of teaching), and have also reduced the time required to reach tenure to as little as three years on the job (the point at which the member achieves lifetime union benefits).

.

After three years, there is no point in getting better at teaching, no point at all. Their job is secure, and many public union teachers simply phone it in from there over the remainder of their career. Once they hit 30 years, 27 of those years mediocre at best performance wise, they can retire with 75% of their full time income for the remainder of their lives, along with 3 or 4% cost of living adjustments annually.

.

How is this system possibly sustainable? To have a 52 year old retired teacher, living large on the public dime for the rest of their lives while the district they left has to hire yet another teacher to replace the able bodied slug that cashed in? The math is simple: the teacher that cashed in at age 52 earned perhaps $70,000 after 30 years in the typical school district. They will retire with full health care costs paid for and $52,500 annually for another 28 years or so on average. The district will replace that teacher with a rookie public teacher union employee, and pay that teacher (with full health care benefits) $40K to start.

.

The community in which their union operates accordingly is paying the $52,500 for the non-working teacher (the retired union teacher), along with $40K annually for the young replacement union teacher, and full health care benefits for both. That may be $125,000 and rising each year - PER TEACHING SLOT!! And this is probably a wild underestimation as to the actual costs per district per teaching slot. If the rookie teacher puts in their 30 and retires at age 52 and a new 'rookie-rookie replacement must be hired, and the long ago retired slug lives beyond age 82, then (in current dollars), the district is footing the bill for not only the $40K for a new rookie, but $52,500 for the old rookie newly retired, and $52,500 plus all of those cost of living hikes, perhaps another $35,000, for the 82 year old retiree's pension, PLUS ALL THE HEALTH CARE, and the math starts looking just awful - PER TEACHING SLOT: $200,000 ANNUALLY? $250,000 EACH YEAR, MAYBE? PROBABLY HIGHER THAN THAT AND INCREASING EVERY DAY!!!

.

Unsustainable. Simply unsustainable. And we haven't even discussed how badly these slacking, unmotivated tenured union teachers are phoning in their work to our children. And we haven't even scratched the surface as to how many teacher's union administrators have been provided with feather bed jobs that are redundant, unnecessary and useless. And of course, we haven't discussed the retirement benefits, health care benefits , etc. of all of these unnecessary and superfluous administrators who also retire at age 52.

.

And what do we hear, year after year from these unions? We need MORE MONEY!! IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN!! Hogwash and balderdash. Our public school system is awash in taxpayer money, and all of it goes to the union featherbedding of its members for life, all the while their tax base supports these slackers in perpetuity, immune from downturns in the economy, immune from responsibility and accountability.

.

The educational system as we know it now has to de-certify each and every public union, including teacher's unions, immediately if not sooner. The costs of this unsustainable system will be the death of us all in the long run.

.

We are already starting to wither and die in the short and medium run. Everyone with eyes can see this as the truth. And this commentary on the sad shape of public education, 'Waiting for Superman' exposes these greedy unions as for what they are: leeches, and parasites on our society.

You just might be a Democrat if.....

 1) ....if you think that the United States owes you a living simply because you were born here, and that your every want and need should be provided to you at no cost, you are probably a Democrat. That, or a Northeastern Republican (same thing).

.

2) You just might be a Democrat if....you belong to a public employee union, and firmly and truly believe that you should make $120,000 annually until you reach age 51, all the while each and every dime you make comes from the pockets of the taxpayers of your municipality. You also believe down to the marrow in your bones that you should retire comfortably at age 51 on around $90K annually to a beach house in Coral Gables, Florida while the municipality you worked for goes broke paying for your and the rest of your union's unbridled greed and sloth for the rest of your slovenly life, well then you just might be a Democrat. .

3) You just might be a Democrat if....you continue electing Democrat after Democrat to represent you in Congress and they in turn spend the Treasury's (read: 'the taxpayer's) money like drunken sailors on projects and payoffs that the Constitution never, ever intended, well then you just might be a Democrat.

.

4) You just might be a Democrat if....you truly believe that all women's bodies are theirs to do with as they wish, to include murder innocent lives within them for convenience sake by having abortions on demand for any reason whatsoever. You just might be a Democrat if you believe this, that or a Northeastern Republican (same thing).

.

5). You just might be a Democrat if....you think that living off the sweat, blood and tears of another without any input from you is nothing to be ashamed of, that eating the bread off of another American's table without any effort on your part is perfectly acceptable, and even 'a right.' If you think that sucking off the public dime is the American way; well then you just might be a Democrat. .

6) You just might be a Democrat if...firmly and truly believe, from the bottom of your heart, that you should pay no federal taxes, while people making more than you should pay all of the federal taxes, if you think that is the way America should be, well then you most certainly must be a Democrat.

.

That, or a Northeastern Republican (same thing).

ABC News thinks all money belongs to government

ABC World News, with Dan Harris sitting in for the lovely and gracious (but liberal) Diane Sawyer, just doesn't get it, nor does anyone at ABC. And likely they never will. There was a segment that aired on ABC yesterday with Dan Harris speaking on a segment of 'Taxing the Rich."

.

Dan Harris reported on Monday's nightly news broadcast that (and I am paraphrasing here) 'the controversial Bush tax cuts are set to expire, but until they do, this gives $700 Billion dollars to mostly millionaires, and even billionaires, who don't need it.'

.

He went on to say that should the tax cuts be extended, this would 'cost the government $3.7 Trillion dollars over the next 10 years.'

.

Where do I start on this blithering idiot's broadcast? Let me just start by saying in all caps, "IT'S NOT THE GOVERNMENT'S MONEY, IT'S OURS!!' Just where does Dan Harris get off by saying that money that was not confiscated by the IRS and never gets to Washington DC in the first place will 'cost the government?' How stupid can these Marxist's be? Well, they are Marxists at their core, and probably truly believe that all money in our economy belongs to the government, because it says 'United States of America' on each and every bill, which is printed by the U.S. Treasury, so who else would it belong to?

.

'Controversial Bush tax cuts?' Yeah, controversial to liberals, who never met a tax hike they didn't like. But 'controversial?' The Bush tax cuts were only controversial to numbnut liberals like Dan Harris, and his bosses at ABC. To the rest of us, they were badly needed, and still ARE badly needed.

.

And just who in hell are these guys at ABC to determine who 'needs' tax breaks, and who doesn't? We ALL need tax breaks. Dan Harris and his cronies all believe down to the marrow that a tax cut will hurt government in its ability to help us stupid, ignorant citizens, who have no idea on how to manage our own affairs. We're stupid cretins who just fell off the onion truck, as far as they are concerned. The Great Unwashed. And we stink up the place when we visit Washington D.C. in the summer as well, just ask Sen. Harry Reid, he as much as said this very thing last year.

.

There is absolutely no use in arguing that lowering taxes increases private sector investment and activity, and has been proven time and again. You know, the Laffer Curve. But trying to explain the Laffer Curve to a liberal is like showing Dracula a crucifix: they cower and shrink away from it, and howl in pain at viewing it. What's the use?

.

I just can't wait until November, and watch the electoral bloodbath that will befall these clueless liberals. Remember Peter Jennings saying that the 1994 Republican victories were just a result of 'angry white guys.' And that America was 'throwing a temper tantrum.'

. I wonder how ABC will cover this one? It's going to be twice as bad, or worse (for them).

You just might be one of the 'Great Unwashed.'

How does one know if they qualify to be a member of 'The Great Unwashed?' You know, those folks whose malodorous presence within smelling distance of our Ruling Class draws a wrinkled nose from the inconvenienced Elite who has the misfortune of sniffing the stench of such a lowly person.

Still confused as to who those Great Unwashed are? Or, heaven forbid, if you ARE one of the Great Unwashed? You know, the stinky folks who visit Washington and offend Sen. Harry Reid's nasal passages (remember, he literally said as much last year).

Well, don't you worry your pretty little (yet stinky) heads any further. Good ol' Fredd is here to help (it's just the kind of guy I am). Allow me to provide some criteria below that can be attributed to us Great Unwashed and assist you in determining your station in life (yes, 'us Great Unwashed,' as good ol' Fredd is a proud member of the "Great Unwashed,' and is even more proud of his malodorous, fetid stench in the presence of his 'betters.')

.

DO YOU OWN A SMALL BUSINESS? Welcome to the Great Unwashed. You smelly folks are the backbone of the greatest economy on earth, and as such are held in complete and utter contempt by 'your betters.' You know, the Ruling Elites, who think of all money in the American economy as theirs, and since they are so much smarter (and better smelling), they know that doling out 'their' money to us Unwashed folk as they see fit is much better than allowing us to botch things up left to our own stinky devices. Just watch the video on Christophers' "Conservative Perspective" of a former small business owner ("Its-not-fair") Ken George explain how the Elites in our government suck away much of small business earnings in taxes, and your Great Unwashed and stinking blood will boil. Mine did.

.

DID YOU GRADUATE FROM A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY? Like Sarah Palin, with her stinky B.S. from the University of Idaho. Oh, you smelly, lowly one. Don't you know that to be considered one of the Ruling Class, or part of Polite Society, you must hail from haloed institutions such as Bryn Mawr, Sarah Lawrence, or an Ivy League institution. The only use 'our betters' have for a diploma issued from the University of Oregon, or Arizona State is for wiping their Elite butts, and nothing more.

DO YOU LIVE IN A RED STATE? You know, like Wyoming, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Montana, or (GOD FORBID!) ....Texas!!? Well, then you most assuredly are a filthy, disgusting, stinking member of the Great Unwashed, and accordingly your fetid stench can be detected from as far away as Washington D.C., since your particularly offensive, foul, malodorous stink can waft for thousands of miles and still be detected by 'Your Betters' in the classier neighborhoods. Your ilk is particularly offensive to the Ruling Class, since you constantly return (shudder)...'Republicans' to office, although the Ruling Elites can often brainwash even the dirtiest, stinkiest of the malodorous GOP members into acquiescing to their thinking on the ways of the better smelling world of the Elites. While a RINO still stinks in the presence of our 'betters,' their stench is slightly less offensive when they vote for pork packages, ever increasing spending, etc. along with those who know better than us Great Unwashed dolts and idiots.

.

Hopefully you are no longer confused as to your station in life. And please feel free to deposit any contraband bars of soap or bottles of shampoo at the door, and we will not ask any questions as to their origin: welcome to The Great Unwashed, c'mon in and set a spell....

.

No need to take your shoes off.....