June 29th Bunker Index - The Secret of Happiness

[Ernie]

The Greeks ain't got it. One wonders what Thucydides would make of all of this hooplah. Last night I ate at a Greek restaurant, and now my stomach is protesting in apparent solidarity with the Greek citizens. Tonight's dinner will be more representative of austerity.

Things are a mess out there. It's not the number of events, though 29 is no small number, but rather the severity of some of the events. I have no way to measure that as the BI is a simple numerical scale, but yikes ... trust me when I say it's getting rough out there.



1. The government has reached the debt ceiling and is raiding federal pension funds to keep operating. Expected to continue until August 2nd when they'll have to find another source of operating revenue in order to keep the doors open. If they haven't resolved this come August, keep your hand on your wallet. UPDATE: Congressional Budget Office releases the numbers - 32nd straight month that the federal government has ran a deficit.

2. We are past the 60th day of American involvement in the NATO-led Libyan campaign. NATO is ramping up activities and currently the president and all military personnel participating in this are violating the law. Nobody seems to notice, however, and the other branches of government appear to be giving the executive branch a free pass on this one, further undermining the rule of law. UPDATE: Some lawmakers are SUING the president and Boehner has issued some harsh words. Supposedly a bill has been presented which will cut off funding.

3. In response to growing tensions in the South China Sea, our government is sending a navy destroyer to face off against recent Chinese belligerence. Could this be the spark which sets off a U.S.-China war? China is not going to like us interfering in what they consider their backyard. UPDATE: The Chinese has sent ships across the coast of Japan in a move designed to intimidate.

4. As Greece plunges further and further into insolvency, Obama urged the European Union to bail them out and pledged OUR financial support as well. No news on how much money we'd be contributing or where exactly it would come from.

5. American action in Yemen intensifies with further bombings. This makes FOUR global conflicts we are simultaneously involved in. Can we economically sustain this?

6. 30 days after his violation of the War Powers Act, Boehner warns Obama that on Friday he will be IN VIOLATION of the War Powers Act. No indication of what they'll actually do about it. Perhaps send a strongly worded letter 30 days from now. UPDATE: Apparently the rest of the government doesn't care about this.

7. Officials are warning of blackouts and food shortages in Europe this year due to drought. Is there anywhere in the world that ISN'T warning of food shortages? Except North Korea, apparently, where Dear Leader has promised each family a pig in the pot.

8. Greece continues to devolve into an anarchic state. People there are throwing petrol bombs at the police after the bankrupt government started making austerity cuts. Watch this one carefully, folks. Greece is a modern industrialized nation, not some third-world backwater. And they are being torn to pieces by their entitlement state now that they're forced to cut back on the free stuff. When you look at Greece, you're looking at OUR future. UPDATE: Austerity measures have been passed that now effectively enslave the Greek people for the next 4 generations.

9. The IMF warned the United States and other debt-ridden nations that we are "playing with fire" if we don't immediately cut our deficits. This is a warning the IMF usually issues to third-world dictatorships shortly before the "El Jefe" flees the country to live in exile on millions in Swiss accounts.

10. Obama instructs immigration to NOT enforce laws against illegal immigrants if they are enrolled in higher education or have a relative serving in the military. This is a backdoor amnesty program which will bring in a whole new flood and hasten the decline of public services.

11. VIPR sweeps by TSA exceeds 8,000 per year in public locations. The TSA has introduced a new "flash mob" approach where they descend on public locations with a large number of armed officers and heavy equipment and conduct identity checks and pat downs. Bus stations, sporting events, and even on city streets over the past year, they have conducted at least 8,000 of these sweeps. Was this the sign you were waiting for?

12. TEPCO in Japan released information that Fukushima released MORE radioactive material into the environment than Chernobyl did. Some studies indicate now that this is increasing child mortality rates on the West Coast. This bears extra watching as we can trust our government and compliant MSM to NOT inform us of what's going on.

13. China's Zhejiang province, their main agricultural center, is experiencing massive flooding. China has already had a problem with food supplies and this may cause even more problems. Are you ready for a billion Chinese to be going hungry while their government holds almost all U.S. debt?

14. Since 2008, U.S. combat casualty rate has increased 5 fold. Not a good time to be a soldier with 4 wars going on. Oops. Not wars ... kinetic actions.

15. CBO releases projections that servicing our nation's debt will reach 101% of our GDP by 2021. Got kids? Teach them Chinese.

16. Obama is bringing NATO and G-8 leaders to Chicago, despite that city's fiscal woes. Could this increase violence in the city as anarchists descend upon them, Vancouver style?

17. Debt talks have broken down. No sign of progress. Will this eventually lead to a shutdown of the government?

18. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the House Small Business Committee on Wednesday that the Obama administration believes taxes on small business must increase so the administration does not have to “shrink the overall size of government programs.”

19. North Dakota flood evacuations have been expanded. No sign of improvement in their situation. How widespread is the flooding? This has mostly been bumped off of the news but I don't think it has gone away.

20. Floodwaters have surrounded the nuclear power plant in Nebraska after one of two levee systems was breached. Supposedly the plant is surrounded by at least 2 feet of water. UPDATE: Water is now seeping into the storage building.

21. This is the week the Greeks vote on the critical austerity package. The rest of Europe is bracing for a Greek default.

22. Spain and Italy are entering the early phases of spending cuts, the same process we saw in Greece.

23. In North Korea another massive famine is hitting leaving children begging on the streets for food and their army starving. When this has happened before it has always initiated belligerent action from NK in order to secure food relief from the rest of the world.

24. In a step towards a "One World Religion", a group sponsored readings from the Koran in over 50 prominent Christian churches this past Sunday. This is all part of an interfaith project being promoted by the Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First. The theme of this Sunday is “Faith Shared: Uniting in Prayer and Understanding”, and the stated goal is to show how much Christian churches in the United States respect Islam.

25. The overseers of the power grid are proposing a new experiment to save and reduce load that may damage electrical appliances in homes. Surprised to find that you can't even depend on the grid?

26. Flash mob violence continues to be on the rise. It's everywhere. Stay armed! Stay alert! Don't get caught up in it!

27. NEW Insurgents and suicide bombers attack historic hotel in Afghanistan. commandos and security forces have regained control of the hotel, which is burning from the attack. A number of fatalities. No word on American casualties, but a number of Afghan officials were having dinner in the hotel as they prepare to take over control of their country as preparations for (eventual) American withdrawals.

28. NEW Fire at Los Alamos still raging out of control. They may lose some or all of the buildings now, officials say.

29. NEW As the austerity vote approaches in Greece, protestors set fire to the city. Over 5,000 police have been deployed but the rioting doesn't appear to be slowing down. This is the big collapse that we've been predicting for the Greek state. The no win situation played out to its conclusion. Public utility employees have shut down the city in protest and some soldiers are apparently joining in the riots against the government.

[tinknal]

Ernie, any chance of nixing the pic so that all of the text will fit on the page?

[Ernie]

Pic too big, eh? Let me fix.

[Riverrat]

Nothing on Iran's missile test?

[Ernie]

I didn't hear about it. I only check Drudge and Blacklisted. If there's events I'm missing, y'all feel free to add them to this thread!

[Riverrat]

In the second day of their war games, Iran has test fired medium range missiles that are capable of hitting any part of Israel and US bases in Afghanistan. this is off off both DEBKA and Military space news.

[Txsteader]

Austerity bill just passed in Greece.

[Ann-NWIowa]

AP story on Fort Calhoun in today's paper says "little or no" danger. Whatever happened to NO DANGER? I'm beginning to think "flood water hits nuclear" might just be the SHTF for Midwest. Or maybe "fire hits nuclear" for New Mexico. Or how about "Iran has nuclear weapon and missle to deliver" for SHTF for all of us? Seems like the Cold War has turned into potential self-destruct with nuclear or maybe Muslim or North Korean crazies nuke the world.

[timfromohio]

Ernie - didn't know if you saw this one from Drudge:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/UK-fac....html?x=0&.v=7

So, the #4 to #8 to #29 progression might repeat itself in other countries ....

[therunbunch]

You know, I don't know if everyone else will feel the same, but the President talking about "the safety of our food" being compromised without his plans going forward, really creeped me out a bit. We do a lot of speculating on "end times" and food control etc etc. Him using that as leverage for tax decisions just doesn't sit right with me. I think there are plenty of other things that can be cut before we start mentioning or even thinking about food safety!

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/vid...increases.html

[InvalidID]

Ok, so Fort Calhoun is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. Los Alamos is giving me the willies. Iran wants us to slap their up. Then we have Greece. Oh Greece. The birthplace of Democracy has just had theirs hijacked.

This is shaping up to be a pretty big year, can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us.

[InvalidID]

I would like to touch on Greece a little more here, please forgive the double post guys. This to me seems like a monumental moment in world history though.

If the people of Greece can not persuade their elected leaders they simply aren't going to go along with this, the EU will own Greece. The average working stiff in Greece will become something like a peasant in medieval Europe and it will only spread from there.

This outcome is also bad for the dollar. If banks and investors decide that European's are easy to get under thumb the Euro will start to look like a mighty nice place to park your cash. The dollar will suffer, and so will T-Bills as money moves out of the US and into the Eurozone.

If the people of Greece do manage to show the government that they mean business it will effectively kill the Euro. Nations like Ireland, Portugal, possibly Spain will likely follow. The people of those nations are realizing the elites have been selling them out. I talk to a few people from Ireland and the feeling there is the leaders have sold them back into colonialism.

If the Greeks do manage to throw the yolk of oppression it's good for the dollar. The dollar would then be the only effective currency option in the world. The flight to safety would be huge, and give us a lot of leverage to borrow money at rates under inflation.

This sounds good until we think about how much we the people would much prefer NOT to borrow more money... Will it then be our turn to protest in the streets? If the people of Greece win, will they be passing the torch to us? This is the biggest moment in world history since WWII guys. Either way, the results will last for generations.

[DaleK]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...10-months.html

OK it's a basketcase, no surprise...

[kabic]

Originally Posted by InvalidID

The average working stiff in Greece will become something like a peasant in medieval Europe and it will only spread from there.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...-what-voted-on

Doesnt seem that bad to me. The only thing that seems high is the sales tax. Income tax at 10% with those under 30 or above 65 exempt is way better than the USA

Can you explain which of these changes make them like medieval peasants in Europe. I would prefer to compare them to silver spoon brats that have lost their trust fund account and now have to work for a living.

[megafatcat]

I notice odd things. Under this topic,'the secret to happiness', we have other topics...
Blueberry heaven
A years supply of food..
...a Berkey
...duct tape
making hootch
...$100 to spend.
S&EP is not all doom after all!

[Ernie]

It's a quote by Thucydides. I always imbed little things like that in the title for your amusement.

"The secret to happiness is freedom. The secret to freedom is courage."

[InvalidID]

I could go into a whole big thing about the tax rate in Greece, but at the end of the day that isn't the real problem in this instance. The real problem is the people of Greece don't want any part of this bail out. They don't want to see their public land sold off to pay for a bailout, they simply don't want it.
And that is what makes them peasants. The powers that be have decided they like being in power more than they like the people of Greece. They have decided they will do what they want, and the people can suck it up and deal.

[time]

Originally Posted by InvalidID

The real problem is the people of Greece don't want any part of this bail out. They don't want to see their public land sold off to pay for a bailout, they simply don't want it.

I see it different.

I don't think they care about the bailout. I think they don't want cuts and higher taxes. They are, after all, protesting austerity measures. There is a strike to protest austerity. I do not believe there would be protests if there was a bailout and no cuts.

[seedspreader]

If the vast majority of people in Greece weren't paid by the government, you wouldn't see the strikes you do.

I've said it before, I think you all are totally missing the boat on this one.

Pensions... run by government. Government controls who and how much.
Pay... run by government. Government controls who and how much.
Health care... run by government. Government controls who and how much

I won't even get into the whole "union" deal.

Greece is the end game of socialism.

It has nothing to do with public land being sold off... (btw, do you know who it was sold to? I do.)

Here is an article about privatization:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...andinvesting_5

As part of Greece's privatization plan to raise cash to reduce its mountain of debt, the national government is preparing to sell as much as €30 billion ($42.9 billion) of public property. It is still early in the process, but future sales are likely to include assets ranging from the government's stake in the Mont Parnes Casino resort in Athens, hotels, and even a concession to develop a luxury resort with a world-class golf course on the island of Rhodes.

The Hellenic Public Real Estate Corp., the government body that manages public property, has a list of about 75,000 individual government-owned properties. The corporation has appointed National Bank of Greece SA to lead a consortium of advisers who are now preparing to sell an initial portfolio of 20 to 30 properties, the first of which could be put on the market in the next few months, according to Aristotelis Karytinos, general manager of the real-estate division at National Bank of Greece.

The International Monetary Fund, in its latest report on Greece, estimates that as many as €15 billion could be raised through real-estate sales. Mr. Karytinos says expected proceeds from property sales or leasing is now estimated at between €15 billion and €30 billion. The first step is to sift through the long list of public property, identify the best real estate, and resolve any legal issues to ensure that the property is able to be fully developed by investors.

"We more or less know what the government owns, but many of the properties may have some legal or technical problems that need to be resolved before we can exploit them," Mr. Karytinos said in an interview. "In some cases, we may have to rezone properties."

The real-estate privatization is part of a broader program to sell government holdings valued at about €50 billion, which Athens agreed to do to obtain a €110 billion bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The IMF has been pressing Greece to accelerate the privatization process and is particularly keen to see Athens dispose of stakes in properties and industries that it believes are better left to the private sector, such as running gambling casinos.

The "Greek Land" is things like Casino's that the government was in bed with owning part ownership, Resorts, hotels, concessions...

This isn't like they are selling the Parthenon, they are selling "Greek Land" that they have no right owning.

That's my last statement on it, because for some reason you all want to paint this like the greeks are getting screwed and the truth is they are getting the return on their government investment into indulgence that they all wanted.

Do I feel like... "Ha, they deserve it"??? No... more like... wow, they are getting what they deserve and I don't like it because we're heading down that same road.

Another aside... the Communist and Anarchist (both leftist groups) are really pushing this protest.

Sorry, but the Greeks aren't in the streets because the government is selling them out, or selling out the "public land" casinos.

Nope they are out because they feel that they are being shorted on their entitlements of pension and pay and vacation time and health care.

There are lessons to be learned here.

[seedspreader]

Originally Posted by time

I see it different.

I don't think they care about the bailout. I think they don't want cuts and higher taxes. They are, after all, protesting austerity measures. There is a strike to protest austerity. I do not believe there would be protests if there was a bailout and no cuts.

winner winner chicken dinner.