- 22 Feb 2019 17:14
#14989845
noemon, you keep attacking me because America has elected neo-liberal Gov. since Eisenhower or Kennedy.
As if that is my fault, or as if that changes the situation in Europe one iota.
We, my responce is that as far as I'm concerned American vote overwhelmingly for one just a few years ago. he Pres. had himself, control of the House and a veto proof Senate. Too bad he lied in the campaign and turned out to be a sell-out Dem. America even voted for him despite many not voting for him because he is/was half Black.
Nevertheless America did vote for a Progressive who campaigned on a Progressive platform. Hope & change. It sucks that he was a liar.
I see you have replied.
You wrote, "Personally I think the SGP rules combined with the general EU laxity on the matter is a good compromise and a good rule that can prevent over-spending and massive debt accumulation."
Well, being in the EZ is the only thing that makes debt accumulation in your own currency a bad thing. The US national debt is just the accumulated savings of America's private Sector.
[BTW --- I hope you have seen the threads where I point out that the US debt can never be paid off. It is impossible. Taking $20T out of the US economy more in taxes than the Gov. spends over any number of years would destroy the US economy. It would be austerity on steroids. It would cause never ending Great Depression. And so, it is a good thing that the US never needs to pay off its natl' debt.
. . . The EZ is totally different. Unless the ECB finds a way to give euros away for free to the people of Europe instead of its bankers, the EZ will have the current endless Recession.]
The problem nations like Greece have is they import more than they export plus tourist income. So, they need foreign money but have no way to get it.*
Italy is the 3rd biggest economy in the EZ and should not have a problem with national debt. But, it is in the EZ and so doesn't have its own currency.
Economies do best when the money supply keeps growing without the growth coming from bank loans that create new currency. This has mostly been done by Gov. deficit spending. The euro complicates things hugely.
.* . Note: I posted 2 stories about this. 1] Greece was stopped from using a new plan or system to catch tax avoiders and collect the back taxes, stopped by the IMF & ECB; why did they do this? 2] Fr. & Ger. banks bought old Greek bonds because they assumed that they paid 25% interest but no longer had the same risk. In the story it wasn't clear but since those bonds were from before Greece joined the EZ they could not have been in euros but in the old Greek currency. They were mostly owned by Greek citizens. So buying them pushed euros into Greece. The Greek people used them to buy German stuff. Then Greece needed those euros to pay off the bonds, but because of tax cheating the Greek Gov. didn't have them.
. . . Why did the ECB find a way to loan Greece 68B euros? Because without those euros being lent several of the biggest Fr. & Ger. banks would have been bankrupt.
. . . Why was there a huge problem? Because the GFC/2008 had happened. A crash or crisis that was supposed to be IMPOSSIBLE given neo-liberal theory. Since it was impossible no nation can be faulted for not seeing it coming.
. . . So, if the problem was that Fr. & Ger. banks NEEDED for the loan to be made and the crisis was caused by American banks and that tax cheating that the ECB facilitated after the fact had a hand; why should the retired Greek citizens have their pension cut? Why not fine the banks? It was their own damn fault. The retired people were not at all at fault. The bankers were made whole and the retired people dumped on when there were alternatives. Utter BULLSHIT.
But, I'm trying to disengage from you. And failing.
As if that is my fault, or as if that changes the situation in Europe one iota.
We, my responce is that as far as I'm concerned American vote overwhelmingly for one just a few years ago. he Pres. had himself, control of the House and a veto proof Senate. Too bad he lied in the campaign and turned out to be a sell-out Dem. America even voted for him despite many not voting for him because he is/was half Black.
Nevertheless America did vote for a Progressive who campaigned on a Progressive platform. Hope & change. It sucks that he was a liar.
I see you have replied.
You wrote, "Personally I think the SGP rules combined with the general EU laxity on the matter is a good compromise and a good rule that can prevent over-spending and massive debt accumulation."
Well, being in the EZ is the only thing that makes debt accumulation in your own currency a bad thing. The US national debt is just the accumulated savings of America's private Sector.
[BTW --- I hope you have seen the threads where I point out that the US debt can never be paid off. It is impossible. Taking $20T out of the US economy more in taxes than the Gov. spends over any number of years would destroy the US economy. It would be austerity on steroids. It would cause never ending Great Depression. And so, it is a good thing that the US never needs to pay off its natl' debt.
. . . The EZ is totally different. Unless the ECB finds a way to give euros away for free to the people of Europe instead of its bankers, the EZ will have the current endless Recession.]
The problem nations like Greece have is they import more than they export plus tourist income. So, they need foreign money but have no way to get it.*
Italy is the 3rd biggest economy in the EZ and should not have a problem with national debt. But, it is in the EZ and so doesn't have its own currency.
Economies do best when the money supply keeps growing without the growth coming from bank loans that create new currency. This has mostly been done by Gov. deficit spending. The euro complicates things hugely.
.* . Note: I posted 2 stories about this. 1] Greece was stopped from using a new plan or system to catch tax avoiders and collect the back taxes, stopped by the IMF & ECB; why did they do this? 2] Fr. & Ger. banks bought old Greek bonds because they assumed that they paid 25% interest but no longer had the same risk. In the story it wasn't clear but since those bonds were from before Greece joined the EZ they could not have been in euros but in the old Greek currency. They were mostly owned by Greek citizens. So buying them pushed euros into Greece. The Greek people used them to buy German stuff. Then Greece needed those euros to pay off the bonds, but because of tax cheating the Greek Gov. didn't have them.
. . . Why did the ECB find a way to loan Greece 68B euros? Because without those euros being lent several of the biggest Fr. & Ger. banks would have been bankrupt.
. . . Why was there a huge problem? Because the GFC/2008 had happened. A crash or crisis that was supposed to be IMPOSSIBLE given neo-liberal theory. Since it was impossible no nation can be faulted for not seeing it coming.
. . . So, if the problem was that Fr. & Ger. banks NEEDED for the loan to be made and the crisis was caused by American banks and that tax cheating that the ECB facilitated after the fact had a hand; why should the retired Greek citizens have their pension cut? Why not fine the banks? It was their own damn fault. The retired people were not at all at fault. The bankers were made whole and the retired people dumped on when there were alternatives. Utter BULLSHIT.
But, I'm trying to disengage from you. And failing.