When faced with the choice of nuts, berries and bark or a tasty pic-a-nic basket (as Yogi Bear would say) full of chicken, potato salad and cherry pie, which menu item will the average Kodiak bear choose? That's a rhetorical question. We all know what that bear is going to do.
And so it is with all humans, we go for the low hanging fruit. Americans have long been generous, giving people. It is part of our culture to lend a helping hand to those in need, and this is really not the way cultures have been throughout the ages. Back in the day, life was brutish, nasty and short, and free stuff was in mighty short supply. This American ethos is a new thing, and the down and out will of course accept a handout when offered. It is the way of all creatures.
After WWII, Europe was a white, hot mess. Particularly Germany, whose major cities were reduced to smoldering rubble after millions of pounds of bombs were dropped on them by the Allies. Rather than plunder the remnants of a defeated foe, the U.S. stepped up and helped rebuild Europe with aid from U.S. taxpayers via the Marshall Plan.
The Marshall Plan was never intended to last forever. But for the recipients of American largess, these freebies have gone on for way longer than it took to rebuild the economies of Europe. And our politicians have allowed it to continue, even to this very day.
The gravy train is over, however. President Donald John Trump has been grousing about these handouts to those who don't need them anymore since at least the 1980's, and perhaps even earlier than that. When filthy rich Germans charge a 10% tariff on all Chevy's, Fords and Chryslers that enter their ports, and yet the U.S. charges only 2.5% tariff on imported BMW's, Volkswagens and Audis, that hardly is what anyone would call 'free trade.' When Trump moves to remove all tariffs, who are the ones squealing like stuck pigs?
You got it: the mooching, free loading Europeans looking for their perennial handouts. Much like mooching bears, they are indignant when Ranger Smith cracks down on the never ending pic-a-nic baskets.
But the Europeans will get used to free, fair trade once they are forced to accept that the days of mooching have come to an end. Time to get back to the way nature intended things to be: nuts, berries and bark, not bad if you add a little salt...
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15 comments:
Nuts, berries and bark are "granola"... and may be immune to Aunt Sally's culinary meddling. But that's only speculation on my part.
If we can get eight years of President Trump with a Republican legislature backing him up, the elite free-loaders in Europe will see a completely new situation in the world. They will all still make money, but just not as much, and that's part of the point. We've supported the elite, effite Euro population for far too long.
It's important to note how cracking down on the trade imbalance brought them to the table IMMEDIATELY.
LL: have faith - if it's edible, Aunt Sally can render it inedible. It's a gift.
And we have indeed kept the European counts, dukes, dutchesses and administrators in the lap of luxury for well over half a century. As they see it, it's the way things should be. Like doling out money to lay abouts, paying folks for never ending maternity leave and 6 weeks off in the summer (with pay), and yet they have no inclination to buy submarines, battleships, tanks or pay for any fighting men to man them (note I did not include the feminine gender here, don't get me started...). The enormous cost of defending their opulent way of life is NATO's concern, not theirs. And by NATO, that means the American taxpayer.
Those days are coming to a screeching halt, and I think the elite Norwegians, Belgians, Germans and Danes will put down their caviar and Dom Perignon a moment and reflect on how things will be in the mid and long term. They might have to ditch the Dom Perignon and pop for what Americans have been drinking for decades: Cold Duck.
How mortifying. And welcome to the NFL...
Long past due.
Gorges: nothing has happened yet. But it will, as The Donald still has two (or six) more years in charge of this kind of thing.
It's about time someone set this nonsense to rights. Well done, Mr. President.
In the meanwhile, we're racking up debt, enormous debt, trillions of dollars of it. Problem. Solution?
Give it to Eurabia... at INTEREST!
Drinks all'round.
Reverend: Solution - congress needs to stop spending our money that we don't have like drunken sailors, and charging it on our credit card which has an almost 22 TRILLION dollar balance. Whoever holds that debt better hope we start doing something about it sooner rather than later.
And how does a guy get a drink around here? You can't just announce 'drinks all' round', and then walk out of the pub. That's what Uncle Sam does, BTW
Excellent point!
22 TRILLION and CLIMBING is quite the bar tab...
And it will leave one H3ll of a hangover.....
drjim: I always wonder what that day will look like, when the government checks stop showing up in all of those government cheese dependent folk' mailboxes.
It will be ugly, that's for sure.
A year or so before we did our Calexit, there was some kind of 'glitch' in the EBT system in SoCal. I don't remember how long the system was down, less than a day IIRC, but things started to get ugly after just a few hours.
How dare the government deny me things I want, but didn't earn and have no right to!
I think things would really start to go sideways after, oh....48~72 hours?
drjim: that's for sure. And we must always remember: what the government gives, the government can take away. And once the government starts taking things away, they are not very polite about it.
Hey Fredd, I really felt good when DJ Trump told the NATO nations they will Not start spending their agreed to amounts next year or two years from now, they will do it immediately.
I also enjoyed reading that DJ Trump said that any nation not adhering to the Iran sanctions will NOT be doing business with the USA.
Sorta shines a light on just how ^&**^%%ed up things have gotten in the world in relation to the USA.
Thank GOD for President Trump, his family and all those in a position to support and implement the MAGA agenda.
When government gets permission to give something, they gain the power take.
Kid: just puts a shining light on just how BAD George W. Bush was at getting things done. That, and he was one of these globalists that didn't mind spending US tax dollars on foreign interests ('compassion doesn't stop at the Rio Grande...').
Yes it does, Dubya. It stops dead cold, in its tracks at the border. Yes, thank God for the Trump Doctrine (get things done, rather than flap your lips). And GOOD things, not BAD things done.
Fool: true, and when they take whatever they gave you back, they do it with ham fists.
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