The Old Country

As dysfunctional as the United States political system appears, we've got nothing on the dysfunction of Europe.

The financial meltdown of 2008 was, arguably, largely a function of the greed and incompetence of America's high-roller financiers.  And while there is scant evidence to suggest that America's bankers are any less greedy, stupid, or incompetent than they were at the onset of the crisis, there is nonetheless some evidence that American banks have returned to something approaching rude health.  Thanks, of course, to huge dollops of federal aid and interest rates so low that savers such as myself wonder why we don't just stuff the greenbacks under the mattress.

And way too few American financiers are in prison.  But I digress...

Still, the U. S. of A. - the fiscal cliff notwithstanding -  appears to be the picture of political and financial sanity relative to the European Union.

For years after the creation of the euro, the financial markets determined that there was little difference in terms of risk between the sovereign debt of Germany and other euro members.

Then the markets suddenly determined there was a lot of difference.

So much for the rational market.

Financial bubbles or fiscal profligacy in Ireland, Portugal, Greece and subsequently in Italy and Spain has led to a profound crisis that threatens not only the euro but the existence of the European Union itself.  And the response by Europe's political class has been abysmal.

There are no statesman in Europe today.  Merkel, Hollande, and Cameron are hacks.  Notwithstanding the relatively robust health of the German state - German banks are weak and stewed to the gills with bad debt.  France is a wreck - their inflexible job market condemns the young to part-time jobs or no jobs at all.  The Tories in the UK flirt with leaving the European Union altogether.  A sorry state of affairs...

In the meantime, German (and other European creditors) demand ever more austerity from Greece and other Mediterranean types who the northerners now regard as miscreants.  The common people of the debtor nations suffer while their elites dodge taxes. There is rioting in the streets and more to come...

To add insult to injury the EU is now at loggerheads over their next seven year budget.  The French defend farm subsidies.  The English demand continuation of their budget rebates.  The debtor country governments are generally pissed-off over what they regard as broken promises.

A meltdown will be a serious problem for the world economy.

Lovely.

On a more positive note, a picture from my own personal aviation collection.

 A modified Lockheed Ventura 

I took this pic at the Juneau airport circa 1968.  The Ventura was used in WWII as a medium bomber (not very successfully) and found its niche as a maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft.  This plane was refurbished as an executive aircraft for parties unknown... 

Folly

The latest flare-up in the Israeli/Palestinian imbroglio has apparently been tamped down - thanks to American and Egyptian efforts.  And this time there were apparently only one hundred plus fatalities on the Palestinian side and three on the Israeli side.  I guess that is progress relative to past eruptions.

Still, one cannot help but marvel over the futility of the exercise. 

As a youngster I was captivated by the romance of the State of Israel.  I read biographies of Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan.  They were the good guys (and gals) - a democratic state in a hostile non-democratic region.

Today, I am much more ambivalent about Israel.

Israeli politics are polarized and their current government disgusts me.  Mr. Netanyahu's government depends on the support of extremists who reject the concept of a viable Palestinian state.  His government fails to prosecute radical settlers in the West Bank who lynch, harass, and destroy the crops of Palestinians whose only crime is living in lands coveted by the settlers.

Don't get me wrong.  Israel has every right to defend itself from folks shooting missiles into its territory from Gaza or from anyplace else.

But...Israel also has an obligation to live up to its international obligations. They must stop building illegal settlements.  And they must dismantle those illegal settlements that exist. Period.

I am no friend of Hamas in Gaza or of Hezbollah in Lebanon - or their Iranian patrons.

But I do believe American foreign policy needs to right itself - to get real.  The unquestioning support of an Israeli government that is neither willing to honor existing international obligations nor willing to negotiate in good faith with the Palestinians is a recipe for disaster for the United States. 

Indeed, it is folly.

On a more positive note - another pic from the Alaska Coastal series.

That's one sexy Goose.

Bright-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed

Another week gone by the wayside.  Not particularly eventful; but I was busy.  Cooking, cleaning and misc. elder errands were on the agenda.

The weather has been seasonal.  Rain, snow, wind, more rain, a little snow and so forth.  Had shoveling to do a couple of mornings but it rained hard yesterday afternoon and evening and the snow has largely disappeared.  This weekend we'll have a change of pace as the temperature plummets into the teens.  Chance of snow, too.

I bought several sacks of victuals for my winged friends and also a bag of squirrel food.  The squirrel wasted no time making himself at home...mowed right through the groceries.

Squirrel on the dole...

The birdies haven't yet discovered the feeders in the back yard.  Two feeders with two different mixes...one blend should be particularly attractive to the Chickadees while the other should prove irresistible to my Pine Siskin pals.  I expect the Juncos will swing both ways...  As I recall, last year it took about a week for the word to get out in birdland...

In other news, the drama of the election season has been replaced with small ball stuff.  I am completely mystified by the fascination with the General and his girlfriend.  It is an unfortunate way to end a generally estimable career, to be sure; but it seems like a pretty straightforward "failure to keep it in his pants" story to me.   And he didn't even deny it - promptly resigned with as much dignity as the situation would allow.  As near as I can tell the story lingers largely because some Congresspersons are miffed that they weren't dished the dirt before it hit the news stand.  Too bad.

And the Benghazi inquisition strikes me as equally strange.  The fact that a confused situation was, well, confused, is not surprising to me.

Perhaps tomorrow's "fiscal cliff" summit will be more interesting - or at least more amusing.

Cheers! 

Elections

A very long day yesterday.  I got press-ganged by my buddy, Eric, to work at the polling station at Nugget Mall.  We were there just before 6 AM and I didn't leave until after 9 PM.  And I was the first of the team of five to leave...

It was an interesting experience.  We worked the Airport Precinct which extends as far south as Switzer Creek.  It is certainly more conservative than the downtown precincts and also attracted a lot of "walk-ins" who resided throughout the borough and even a number of folks from out-of-town.  As I recall, we issued around 970 ballots and over 150 of them were voted as "questioned" ballots. 

I was working one of the two "sign-in" stations and time after time a voter would start the conversation with something like "I don't think this is my precinct; but can I vote here anyway?"  I believe a very solid majority of these folks were persons under the age of 35 and it was abundantly clear they didn't "get" why they were required to present themselves at a particular place at a particular time in order to exercise their right to vote.

And frankly, I don't get it either.  By national standards Alaska's election system is reasonably fair and free of the sort of overt partisan voter suppression efforts that have been so evident elsewhere. Still, Alaska's system is  horse and buggy stuff and one cannot help but conclude that in a geographically challenged, sparsely populated,  and demographically mobile and diverse state like Alaska that it's well past time for a 21st century make-over.  Vote by mail comes immediately to mind although I'm sure there are other more technologically advanced options as well.

Of course, reform of the election system is not likely to be on the agenda for our Republican Governor and newly minted Republican House and Senate.  They will be far too busy coddling Big Oil.

As to the national poll, all I can say is "Whew!"  I was cautiously optimistic that President Obama would prevail but was very pleasantly surprised by the gain of a couple of Senate seats as well.  And while gains in the House were modest; they were gains nonetheless.

What happens next will largely depend on what lessons the GOP takes to heart from the election.  And I guess the odds would be that continued national political gridlock will be the order of the day.

Still, it will be fascinating to watch the internal machinations of the Republicans.  And while it would be premature, at best, to predict any sort of major realignment of the body politic; it is certainly the case that tensions within the GOP will have to be resolved in some fashion.

The decades old coalition of money (both corporate and private) and social conservatives is showing its age and is looking mighty frayed around the edges.  One would expect that the first reaction of each faction will be to blame the other for the GOP's dismal performance. 

The social conservatives will proclaim the problem was that Mr. Romney was just not a true conservative.

The folks who bankrolled the electoral fiasco will point their well manicured fingers at the grassroots tea party types and wonder out loud how Republicans will ever be able to compete nationally as long as the party continues to ignore the changing demographics of the country, demand the party's presidential contenders adopt positions that are abhorrent to a majority of Americans in order to secure the nomination, and then put forward certifiable nut cases like their recent Senate candidates in Missouri and Indiana. 

One is tempted to feel sorry for Speaker Boehner for whom these contradictions and conflicts are not in the least bit academic.  Come January he will have to manage the House majority's internal disputes in order to present a coherent Republican alternative to the President's agenda. 

The just say "No" strategy of the past four years may be tempting and will probably be the default position on many fronts.  But the"fiscal cliff" - the box that Speaker Boehner and other Congressional Republicans helped build last year with the expectation that a Republican President would subsequently dismantle it - now looms. 

Fasten your seat belts kids, it's going to be a bumpy ride.