Viva Pepe's atheist sloth ethic!

Bill Kristol smoking hash?

...most sentient Republicans, and most conscientious conservatives, suspect we can do better than the current field. You don't say.

And then Italy will go Greek

But it will come at a massive cost. The riots of Athens will become those of Milan, Madrid and Marseilles. Parties of the fringe will gain greater sway. .. Countries will choose decay over reform. It's a long, likely parade of horribles.

And Rott will frolic in the Alps with Charly, sipping chilled Chablis, oblivious to it all. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

The Greeks aren’t going to bail us out? Oh, c'mon!

VDH is happy

And pigs fly, once in a blue moon.

Rötterdämmerung

Don't worry, be happy--says Mr Rot

Just put your head in the sand.

Tsuica is making a comeback

Nanny State having a bit of trouble

For millions of Europeans, modest salaries and high taxes have been offset by the benefits of their cherished social model — a cradle-to-grave safety net which, in the recent boom years, seemed to grow more generous all the time. Now, governments across Europe say they have little choice but to pull back on social benefits, at least for now. Tax revenues are falling; populations are aging and rising deficits are everywhere, threatening the euro.

You don't say.

Fareed says: don't worry, be happy

Tecs stole ouzo meme from Krauthammer!!

You owe him like a billion VCPs now, Tecs. I hope he finds you too.

Pay up, Herr Rot, pay up!

The $600 trillion bubble: don't worry, be happy.

A knuckledragger's lament

Spreading the wealth: the government is charging 2.8 percent to borrow the money and 6.8 percent to lend it to the students, and spending the difference on the new health-care bill and other programs. On a $25,000 student loan, which is an average loan, the amount the government will overcharge will average between $1,700 and $1,800.

Germans bitching about Greeks not waking up early...

Canoeing down the rapids

Steyn is stealing my line: The Athenian “public service” of California has been metaphorically face down in the ouzo for a generation.

Ah, don't worry, says Herr Rot--brain fryers don't really fry your brains

Yeah, sure, whatever you say, buddy.

Groping through a thick, pinkish fog

Richard Cohen lost in his own fog.

Bill Kristol grasps at straws

The Globe explains the bees and the birds of one-party rule.

The Greenspan-Guidotti rule

.. says: The minimum benchmark of reserves equal to at least 100% of short-term external debt. But, The U.S. holds gold, oil, and foreign currency in reserve. It has 8,133.5 metric tonnes of gold (it is the world's largest holder). At current dollar values, it's worth around $300 billion. The U.S. strategic petroleum reserve shows a current total position of 725 million barrels. At current dollar prices, that's roughly $58 billion worth of oil. And according to the IMF, the U.S. has $136 billion in foreign currency reserves. So altogether... that's around $500 billion of reserves. Our short-term foreign debts are far bigger. According to the U.S. Treasury, $2 trillion worth of debt will mature in the next 12 months. So looking only at short-term debt, we know the Treasury will have to finance at least $2 trillion worth of maturing debt in the next 12 months. That might not cause a crisis if we were still funding our national debt internally. But since 1985, we've been a net debtor to the world. Today, foreigners own 44% of all our debts, which means we owe foreign creditors at least $880 billion in the next 12 months – an amount far larger than our reserves. Keep in mind, this only covers our existing debts. The Office of Management and Budget is predicting a $1.5 trillion budget deficit over the next year. That puts our total funding requirements on the order of $3.5 trillion over the next 12 months.

Don't worry, be happy