patrick.net

OccasionalCortex says

Lithuania once ruled over Poland and modern day Belarus and even parts of Ukraine, I think

Most of Ukraine and parts of Russia (Smolensk region, IIRC). It was called The Grand Duchy of Lithuania then and at some point it was the biggest state in Europe.

Polish beer:

Finland's last government failed a few months ago over Health Care financing.

Bank of Finland's Governor declares current Bernie-Beloved system in financially unsustainable.

HELSINKI, March 15 (Reuters) - Finland’s social and healthcare systems still need reforming to ensure the sustainability of its public finances, Bank of Finland governor Olli Rehn said on Friday, a week after the failure of its health reform plan led the government to quit.

The coalition government resigned a month ahead of a mid-April general election, saying it could not deliver on the healthcare reform package, its key policy and widely seen as crucial to long-term fiscal security.

“The collapse of the structural reform of the social and healthcare (systems) is of course very troublesome from the point of view of fiscal sustainability,” Rehn told a news conference in Helsinki.

“The problem itself, (the need for) better and democratic healthcare as well as consolidation of public finances, has not disappeared.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/finland-government-cenbank-healthcare/update-1-healthcare-reform-collapse-troublesome-for-finlands-finances-central-bank-idUSL8N2122LI

The future is in eastern europe and Russia, western Europe is morally bankrupt and a dying society.

America is at a tipping point, but I think people are starting to wake up to the dystopia a progressive left world would bring. Hopefully, it turns around, but I think it's going to take a 4th turning to do so.

So all white?

tovarichpeter says

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/nordic-countries-united-states/490847/

A once powerful demographic group is losing ground in American politics. For most of the countrys history, white Christian Americathe cultural and political edifice built primarily by white Protestant Christians set the tone for our national conversations and shaped American ideals. But today, many white Christian Americans feel profoundly anxious as their numbers and influence are waning. The two primary branches of their family tree, white mainline and white evangelical Protestants, offer competing narratives about their decline. White mainline Protestants blame evangelical Protestants for turning off the younger generation with their anti-gay rhetoric and tendency to conflate Christianity with conservative, nationalist...

More Than 80 Polish Towns Have Declared Themselves 'LGBTQ-Free Zones'

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xgq8mq/european-parliament-tells-poland-to-stop-declaring-lgbtq-free-zones

Meanwhile in Poland:

Norway invests its money for social security and government pensions in the stock markets of the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway

I realize the US Social Security Trust Fund only invests its surplus in US Treasury Notes. It has to along with the Federal Reserve to buy US debt like treasury notes. If not, then the US government could not effectively sustain government operations and debt service. If the demand drops by Social Security not buying US debt, then the interest rate for US debt like 10 year Treasury Note would increase significantly. This will make debt service even more difficult for the US government. Also it could have additional effect on raising mortgage rates.

AD says

Norway invests its money for social security and government pensions in the stock markets of the world.

While they probably average pretty good returns with that, they are also risking disaster if there is a global stock market crash.

Patrick says

AD says

Norway invests its money for social security and government pensions in the stock markets of the world.

While they probably average pretty good returns with that, they are also risking disaster if there is a global stock market crash.

Patrick, I would suspect Norway invests no more than 40% in stocks in its sovereign wealth fund.

That is why I like Vanguard's Lifestrategy Funds. Each is a fund of funds.

The Lifestrategy Conservative Growth Fund is 40% stocks and 60% investment grade bonds.

I like Vanguard Target Income Fund (VTINX). It has returned 5.4% annually since its inception in 2003. Its worst year was in 2008 when it returned -11%.

I think pension funds need to earn about 6% a year. Investing in VTINX gets you close to that.

Tenpoundbass says

Tenpoundbass, my wife grew up in the Soviet Union during the 1980s and lived in Kiev and Saint Petersburg.

She said Soviet stood for Socialist Workers State. Any one who was able to work and did not contribute to the works state was labeled essentially a traitor. They risked being sent to re-education and work camps in the far regions bordering the southern provinces and China, as well as northeastern Russia.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/01/populist-right-wins-parliamentary-elections-slovakia/

Populist Right Wins Parliamentary Elections in Slovakia

Booger says

Wow 100 years! Too bad half of it was under the occupation of totalitarian powers.

I went to Poland way back in '96. I stopped in Krakow and realized why the Poles let the Germans take it without a fight in WW2; what a beautiful city!

I took a night train to Warsaw. Got off the train at dawn, walked around the soviet architecture, found breakfast, and jumped on a train to Berlin. Never made it to old town but Warsaw was not pretty.

Booger says

That's a good idea, and should be in Chinese as well.

There are lots of young Chinese who have literally never heard about the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Hungary Votes 134-56 to End Legal Recognition of Trans People

https://nationalfile.com/hungary-votes-134-56-to-end-legal-recognition-of-trans-people/

Voting...imagine that ! ! !

The US never got to vote for legal recognition of Trans people. I think if we brought up the measure for vote the liberals would freak the fuck out.

Misc says

Voting...imagine that ! ! !

The US never got to vote for legal recognition of Trans people. I think if we brought up the measure for vote the liberals would freak the fuck out.

Hey!!! The electoral college is rigged!!!!

Try bringing the measure up for a State ballot referendum.

https://cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/ikea-manager-charged-firing-catholic-employee-who-criticized-lgbt-event

IKEA Manager Charged for Firing Catholic Employee Who Criticized LGBT Event

An IKEA manager in Krakow, Poland has been charged with violating the religious freedom of a Catholic employee who was fired last year for objecting to the company's internal corporate support of homosexuality and the LGBT agenda.

The IKEA human resources manager was charged by the prosecutor's office in Warsaw and, if found guilty, could face a fine or up to two years in prison, reported U.S. News & World Report. The Catholic employee has also filed a civil lawsuit against the company.

T-Shirt from Poland:
"Don't cry over the black guy"

https://neonnettle.com/features/1776-slovakia-bans-mosques-nationwide-effectively-banning-islam-from-country

Slovakia Bans Mosques Nationwide, Effectively Banning Islam from Country

All Western nations should ban mosques.

Every mosque is an enemy military base.

ad says

Any one who was able to work and did not contribute to the works

In other words they don't have a generous six months unemployment benefit?

ignoreme says

Hey!!! The electoral college is rigged!!!!

And thank God the founders had the prescience to make it that way.

In Bulgaria:

Booger says

In Bulgaria:

looks like soccer fans, they are the most feisty - I wonder who was the opponent of Ultra CSKA Sofia

I'm convinced they’re putting super male vitality in the water over there instead of fluoride.

Polish freedom of speech bill: Under its provisions, social media services will not be allowed to remove content or block accounts if the content on them does not break Polish law.
https://polandin.com/51388314/justice-minister-announces-online-freedom-of-speech-bill

Maybe it's time to brush up on my Polish. I took one semester after visiting grandma's town of Tuliszków when I was in college.

zzyzzx says

Make it billions and that is for each occurrence make it more effective.