Hard Times Coming

Kevin Jackson has a great piece in the American Thinker today about beer sales leveling off, of all things. Partly tongue in cheek, but not really, the article, entitled Maybe We Can Split a Beer makes the point that even in the deepest of recessions, and even when troubles look the blackest, people still buy beer. So, InBev's flat sales projections give a pretty good preview of what we're up against. A quote to get your taste buds working:

The fact that InBev, now the largest brewer in the world, had flat sales is astounding -- a true rarity in historical terms. This is the company that bought Anheuser-Busch, the makers of Bud Light -- the most popular beer in America, for goodness sakes! At this rate, InBev may all have to change their vats from brewing beer to making Kool-Aid, the liberals' favorite beverage these days.


At a press conference in Brussels, InBev CFO Felipe Dutra reported fourth quarter results for the world's largest brewer and maker of Budweiser, saying that InBev garnered "a fourth quarter profit of $1.28 billion, helped by cost cuts and price hikes, but global beer sales were stagnant and forecast no rebound in 2010."


Economists may point at things like "housing starts," "exports," or "durable goods manufacturing" to measure the economic health of America. However, beer sales are a much better indicator, second only to cosmetics!

For a more serious treatment, Chuck Roger has Tell Us the Truth in today's American Thinker. Quoting from that article:

Current events in Greece illustrate the misery that comes from ignoring the basics. The Greek economy is collapsing. A rampant entitlement mentality and the resulting government expansion have ballooned publicly-held debt to 121 percent of the country's 2010 economic output. (America could exceed the 100-percent debt-to-output threshold in 2011.) The European Community's reaction to the Greek tragedy? Mixed. French Prime Minister Sarkozy says the euro block will help "if needed." German Chancellor Merkel offers no aid. A senior member of Merkel's party suggests that Greece sell some of its islands to raise money.

Greece's Prime Minister Papandreou says that Greece has become "a laboratory animal in the battle between Europe and the markets." Progressives view society as their laboratory. Just as President Obama preaches to Americans too dim to swallow his wisdom, Euro-progressives want to force foolishness on a people's unreceptive leader.


Greece needs to address its own problems, the first of which is reality-blind union workers violently whining for government to hand over money the government doesn't have. But the E.C., observes Manhattan Institute's Nicole Gelinas, cannot bear to let Greece solve Greek problems. Too risky. Greece is too big to fail. Gelinas writes, "The empty purse is Papandreou's best tool for keeping public resolve strong in the face of crippling strikes by public workers." In other words, forcing bratty children to take the hit for bankrupting mom and dad is just the right medicine. In Greece, severe pain just might spark sane policies!

The bottom line for both articles? We are in for painful times. We are going to have to cut Federal spending, and Federal taxes by as much as 50%. Entitlement spending will have to be restructured, defense spending will have to be dramatically cut, and agencies like the Education Department and the EPA will have to be scaled back drastically. For the US, there is no big daddy to bail us out.