You are a fucking idiot. Which party in Greece dominated over the last 30 years? Yes- that's right...the Social democrats and how's the country doing so far?Jovial Monk wrote:IQ is such a moron, most of the EZ problems happened under conservative govts, like in Greece. In Spain the problem was rampant real estate fluctuations, etc etc.
Sappho wrote:The whole point of austerity measures is to reduce govt. spending to the essentials so that any remaining money can be directing into debt repayment. Govt. cannot afford to default on debts... the chain of consequences were they to default is mind boggling. Much of the money owed in Europe is to France and Germany and neither nation is in any position to retire debt obligations... they have their nations to run and a continuing financial crisis to manage.JM wrote:A much more commonsense point of view would be to redirect spending to grow the economy which will grow the tax base and trade accounts. In areas like the PIIGS, Balts etc wholesale cultural change is needed and this takes decades not years--but in the meantime people need to live and the area should contribute to a vibrant Europe.
I expect China to continue inflating their yuan. The US wants it and the US will pay... literally... for such demands. As global demand shrinks, expect China to turn its attention onto its own people by raising their standards of living and buying power.
Be very worried about any further 'too big to fail' banks, brokers and insurers failing, for they may learn that they are not too big to fail after all. Govts. are no longer in a position to bail out these megaliths of capitalism gone awry. Govts. have their own debts to consolidate and repay.
Hmmm.... I'm not convinced that letting Greece fail is a manageable risk.So after one year of beating around the bush, it is finally made clear that, as many were expecting all along, the ultimate goal of the Greek "bailouts" is nothing short of the state's (partial for now) annexation by Europe. According to an FT breaking news article, "European leaders are negotiating a deal that would lead to unprecedented outside intervention in the Greek economy, including international involvement in tax collection and privatisation of state assets, in exchange for new bail-out loans for Athens. People involved in the talks said the package would also include incentives for private holders of Greek debt voluntarily to extend Athens’ repayment schedule, as well as another round of austerity measures." Thus Greece is faced with the banker win-win choice, of not only abandoning sovereignty, a first in modern "democratic" history, in the pursuit of "Greek" policies that are beneficial for Europe, or not get a bailout, which would only serve to prevent senior bondholder impairments. How could Greek leaders and its population possibly not accept such an attractive option which either leaves the country as another Olli Rehn protectorate, or forces it to not bailout Europe's overleveraged banker class. In essence Europe is now convinced, just like Hank Paulson was on September 14, 2008, that the downstream effects from letting Greece implode are manageable. But the key development is that the Greek bankruptcy, which from the beginning, and as Peter Tchir's note below demonstrates, was always simply a Greek choice, was just made that much easier.
source
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/busin ... s&emc=tha2Postal Service Is Nearing Default as Losses Mount
The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances.
) Also for calling AGW deniers 'deniers.' Apparently that meant I was saying they were calling them Holocaust deniersDecade of stagnation is putting it mildly. Great bloody Depression more like! If Abbot gets in and they try and find their $100Bn of savings we will join the rest of the world in ever deceasing employment and ever increasing deficit!http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/0 ... 50551.html
U.N. Study: Austerity Measures Pushing World Economy Toward Disaster
First Posted: 9/6/11 12:46 PM ET Updated: 9/6/11 02:06 PM ET
GENEVA (Tom Miles) - The pursuit of austerity measures and deficit cuts is pushing the world economy toward disaster in a misguided attempt to please global financial markets, the annual report of the United Nations economic thinktank UNCTAD said on Tuesday.
The report, entitled "Post-crisis policy challenges in the world economy," savaged U.S. and European economic policies and called for wage increases, stricter regulation of financial markets, including a return to a system of managed exchange rates, and a conscious break with market-led thinking.
"The message here is very pragmatic: we need to reverse our course quickly," said UNCTAD Secretary General Supachai Panitchpakdi.
Supachai, a former head of the World Trade Organization, said the policy response to the crisis, with an emphasis on fiscal tightening, was misconceived and inept.
The report's lead author Heiner Flassbeck said the global economic situation was extremely dangerous and, without more stimulus, a decade of stagnation was the best-case scenario.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162- ... 03544.htmlUrging Congress to "stop the political circus," President Obama on Thursday night called for immediate action on a $447 billion package of spending initiatives and tax cuts designed to jump-start the stalling economy.
"The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities. The question tonight is whether we'll meet ours," Mr. Obama said in a fiery speech before a rare joint session of Congress. "The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy."
In the face of the worst recovery from a recession in the nation's history, a stubborn unemployment rate hovering around 9 percent and zero job growth in the month of August, the pressure is on the president to take action. The challenges remain daunting, however, as Republicans in Congress are taking a combative stance against the president's policies, with 14 months to go before the 2012 elections.
Dubbed the "American Jobs Act," the plan Mr. Obama is sending to Congress is larger than many expected. More than half of the plan is tax cuts for working Americans and small businesses. It also includes spending initiatives in areas like infrastructure. While a package that costs hundreds of billions may be hard to swallow for a Congress that's been more focused this year on deficit reduction, the president is signaling to Republicans that they're also responsible for the poor economy.
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