The European Union is Doomed

The Euro is cheap in response to the inevitable exit of Greece and other poorly-run European governments. Perhaps some Americans will be able to afford a Parisian vacation this year. On the continent itself, people are on the move too. Engineers and other highly-trained workers are leaving southern Europe countries, the high unemployment areas of Spain, Portugal, and Italy, for Germany.

The Germans are getting skilled workers for their industries and, because of the collapse of the Euro, lower prices for exporting. How long, however, will Germans be willing to foot the bill for the above countries lack of fiscal discipline and insolvency? Are European countries, even Germany and some Nordic countries, likely to increase their tax base in the next year or two as manufacturing slows? What will happen when populous and central player of the European unity movement, France, joins the deadbeats?

The European Union is doomed. As Chris Mayer has written in Capital and Crisis, look forward to the garage sale, European assets at fire sale prices. See articles by Chris Mayer and Bill Bonner to capitalize on the opportunities.

Voter ID Laws Make Sense

Virginia has a new voter ID law. This is a good thing. The arguments against voter ID are patently ridiculous and unbelievable. I quote two from Voter ID Laws Pose More Challenges than Solutions by Tova Andrea Wang, posted in the March/April 2012 edition of Social Education.

She claims that 18 percent of Americans over the age of 65 do not have a photo ID. These older Americans must live a very different life than my grandparents. Without photo ID, I assume they reside on an island without the use of banks or airplane travel. I have met only one senior who functioned without photo ID, my great grandmother. Laconic in speech and heavily accented, she, as far as I know, didn't bother getting American citizenship. She died 40 years ago.  I don't think she regretted not being able to vote in American elections as long as the Russian Czar wasn't coming back.

Wang complains that to obtain photo ID, citizens must produce "other documentation and identification, which they are unlikely to have, such as a birth certificate. Such documents cost money to obtain copies" (P.68). No birth certificate? Is it possible that poor people aren't actually born and arrive on this earth by some other means? Where is the birth certificate? If your mama lost it, does that become the state's problem? Don't you need a birth certificate to work as a productive member of society? How can you show that you are an American citizen and get a job without one?

I think we are dealing with a much deeper issue--do people have to be responsible? The answer is, yes. Forcing deadbeats to get a photo ID not only ensures a greater number of voters; it also ensures a greater number of responsible citizens.

August 25, 2012 Postscript: Investment writer and political commentator Richard C. Young argues convincingly for photo identification for voters in Why We Need Voter ID (link here). First of all, leaving your identification at home does not preclude you from voting. In states that have the strictest photo ID laws

Voters who are unable to show ID at the polls are given a provisional ballot. Those provisional ballots are kept separate from the regular ballots. If the voter returns to election officials within a short period of time after the election (generally a few days) and presents acceptable ID, the provisional ballot is counted.

Fraud exists. The Republican National Lawyers Association catalogs voter fraud attempts, and dozens of organized and individual attempts at voter fraud have taken place already this year.Young concludes, "vote fraud, even on a small scale, harms Americans by diluting their most powerful right. It must be prevented."

September 17, 2012 Postscript: Pennsylvania also makes it easier for voters to get their ID together--
"Native Pennsylvanians who need to confirm their birth certificates using the state’s records will soon be able to do so with just one visit to a PennDOT licensing center" See the ink here. The charge that Pennsylvania is suppressing voters just got refuted.
February 9, 2012 Postscript: Voter fraud in the 2012 election was outed in Ohio here.