Rich Galen

Let's start with Europe and work our way back.

The Greeks held elections last week and they have not been able to form a government since.

The leader of the "Leftist" party (read, Communist), Alexis Tsipras, has told the rest of the European Union that he believes Greece should ignore the promises it made to be bailed out and, in essence, go off on its own.

According to the New York Times,

"European leaders have warned that if Greece does not keep its promises, Europe will stop financing it, which would quickly lead to Greece defaulting on its debts and leaving the euro zone, as the countries who share the common euro currency are known."

I'm not exactly sure what the Greek version of "nanny-nanny-boo-boo" is, but Tsipras appears to be chanting it. If a coalition government cannot be formed, new elections will be called and polls indicate the anti-bailout candidates will gain strength.

As of last night, it was being reported that Tsipras had pulled out of any further talks, so there you are.

Meanwhile up in Germany, Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic party has suffered its second major electoral defeat in as many weeks. In a regional vote the rival Social Democrats have gained control of Germany's largest state. Sort of like Democrats winning control of Texas.

According to the BBC

"Analysts say many voters rejected Mrs. Merkel's tough line on fiscal discipline as a cure for state debt. Voters in Greece, France and Italy also recently rejected austerity policies."

Compare and contrast to the issues in California discussed below.

Skipping over the Atlantic Ocean, Obama's America is not doing very well, either.

On the corporate front, the CEO of Yahoo, Scott Thompson resigned over the weekend after, according to CNNMoney.com "after it was found he padded his resume with an embellished college degree."

According to the LA Times

"Recent Yahoo filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission stated that Thompson had degrees in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College in Massachusetts."

But the college didn't begin offering a degree in computer science until four years after Thompson had graduated.

The reason that, as Yahoo called it, these "inadvertent errors" on resumes have such a huge impact is because your resume is absolutely and completely under your control. You know what jobs you've held, what degrees you've earned, what organizations you've joined.

Rich Galen
