A Bridge TOO Farage

Today I would like to introduce you to Nigel Farage.

But first, my apologies to the 1977 film "A Bridge Too Far" which is an account of  "This WWII film follows the perspectives of American, Polish and British soldiers attempting to capture key bridges behind German lines in a complicated parachute and armoured assault. "


Nigel, is truly a "thorn in the side" of un-elected EU Bureaucrats and to get to know him, please click on the following YOUTUBE links.  


ENJOY!!!!
Nigel Farage.... "The Game is Up!"
Nigel Farage... "You weren't elected and those of you who were we elected in secret".
Nigel Farage... "Attacks the EU President and everyone else in the EU Politburo".


Five years ago, I was having dinner in Wuppertal Germany with my colleague Hans who educated me about EU politicians, their non-elected status, their attractive salaries and benefits, and their long tenures. I listened and learned but didn't understand the implications.  With the monetary problems in the EU today, I now understand what he saw so many years ago.


Getting back to Nigel, I would like to tell you about another Nigel- colleague of Hans and myself.  Apparently, these Nigel guys have no problems creating international incidents! 


You see, Nigel and Hans teamed up against me and another American (who we will refer to as TopTiger11) for a golf match in Austria.  Think of this as an amateur's version of the Ryder Cup.


Nigel, a lefty, had a very aggressive slice.  In one tee shot, he sliced left, overshot a 20 meter high hedgerow to launch his golf ball into "field's unknown".   Thinking that we would cross through the hedges to look for Nigel's ball, Hans suggested Nigel must hit another ball.  Because, if we were to cross the hedgerow in search of Nigel's ball we would need passports.   His towering slice of more that 300 meters (actually only 100 meters forwards and 200 meters sideways) had violated the airspace and sovereign soil of Hungary. 


So such is the lot of the world's Nigel's.  Always creating international incidents.  but, always speaking openly about the world as it is.  Even if the listeners cannot handle the truth!

 Next post, we will move from "A Bridge Too Farage" to "The Great EUscape".  Long live the Euro...

The Government is Taking Your Pension

In March 2010, I wrote to you about how governments are taking people's hard earned pension plans. For most people, in most countries, you have some form of your pension privately (your own savings) and some form promised to you by your government.

This year politicians have raided the "government provided" pension plans of their people all around the world.  Here are a few real examples:

1. Ireland announced last week that it would use the country’s €24bn National Pensions Reserve Fund “to support the exchequer’s funding programme”.
2. Telegraph writes: "Portugal has raided €5.6bn (£4.8bn) of pension fund assets in a controversial scramble to meet its deficit targets."
3. The Obama administration will begin to tap federal retiree programs to help fund operations after the government lost its ability Monday to borrow more money from the public, adding urgency to efforts in Washington to fashion a compromise over the debt.

Next is your private pension plans and we already have examples:

1. Hungarian government to claw $15bn of private pension funds back to the state system.
2. Christina Kirchner, President of Argentina, in 2008 seized her citizens’ private pension funds.
3. The US government is drafting legislation for “Guaranteed Retirement Accounts” (GRAs) in which private company pensions and private accounts of citizens are absorbed into a government system whereby Washington then decides how much money you get back.  This is justified on the basis that private pensions have been tax advantaged for years and therefore are already quasi-government property.

There is an old saying that goes, "rich or poor, king or pauper, if you can't defend what you have- you have nothing".

Or you can follow this link and watch a YOUTUBE from George Carlin [WARNING: as is typical in his shows, he uses a lot of very offensive language.  But, if you can be mature enough to look beyond that- you just might learn something].