Greek myths

[Jovial Monk]

Call for special working visas for Greeks

There is a call from within the Greek-Australian community for the Federal Government to introduce a special working visa for Greeks needing to escape the economic slump in their country.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-25/c ... ks/3852364

I agree that would be good, with some conditions perhaps.

Ireland, again under a rightwing govt got into debt (private debt by the banks that the govt took upon itself to repay) and applied austerity before the debt crisis.

Unemployment in Ireland, after a lot of emigration, is 25% and the govt Budget is still in deficit!

Austerity may just drag the world into another Great Depression.

[Leftwinger]

What are you rambling about? All I'm doing is pointing out the blindingly obvious - austerity damages growth. The ideologues behind enforcing it on Greece have yet to accept that fact.

Jeezus fucking Christ you are stupid

At what cost do you want growth?
How's it been working so far?

You lazy socialist fucking scum

Did the doctor drop you on your head when you were born? How do you propose that the country ever fulfil it's debt obligations if it's unable to grow and is shrinking instead? The more the economy shrinks - under the weight of ever-increasing austerity measures - the larger the debt becomes relative to it's ability to pay it.

Austerity is achieving nothing but reinforcing a vicious downward spiral where strangling the economy in an attempt to pay down the debt simply leads to more debt. Austerity gaurantees that bailout after bailout will be needed to stave off total collapse. A country cannot shrink it's way to prosperity, it has to grow.

[Leftwinger]

Call for special working visas for Greeks

There is a call from within the Greek-Australian community for the Federal Government to introduce a special working visa for Greeks needing to escape the economic slump in their country.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-25/c ... ks/3852364

I agree that would be good, with some conditions perhaps.

Ireland, again under a rightwing govt got into debt (private debt by the banks that the govt took upon itself to repay) and applied austerity before the debt crisis.

Unemployment in Ireland, after a lot of emigration, is 25% and the govt Budget is still in deficit!

Austerity may just drag the world into another Great Depression.

Well the poor barstards could definately do with someone on a mercy mission rescuing them!

[Jovial Monk]

Austerity doesn’t work. As Lefty said, ability to repay debts (usually incurred under a RW govt) decreases as the size of the economy decreases under the lash of austerity. No point considering that point any further.

How can we expand the economies? They can’t raise fresh debt. They could print money and deflate and so escape the debt trap they are in—if they leave the Eurozone. I think Germany is concerned about this, hence the arseraping Greece is undergoing.

The IMF/ECB could deal with Greece defaulting—but what about Italy? That has HUGE debts, would cause bank failures all over Europe at least. Trillions of dollars of debt.

We need a genius, an economic genius.

All I can come up with is a moratorium on debt repayments so countries have time to reform economies (tho in the case of Italy and Greece it will really take generations: people there don’t pay taxes because they don’t receive services from the govt and the govt can’t provide the services because it doesn’t get enough tax revenue.

Then rightwing govts encourage a boom which means debt (definitely the case in Ireland, Greece, Italy & Spain.) That happened here too, Howard & Costello encouraging a boom of borrow to spend then inflamed the boom with unsustainable tax cuts and election buying. We are just working our way out of that, cutting out all that middleclass welfare, spending on infrastructure, health, education—which we can because we have our own currency and a tiny debt. So popular in fact are our govt bonds that apparently so many were bought at a low price that we save $0.5Bn a year in interest payments.

Greece cannot do that.

[Neferti]

The only thing that will fix up the Greek problem is a WAR. Where are the Yanks when you need them?

[Leftwinger]

The only thing that will fix up the Greek problem is a WAR. Where are the Yanks when you need them?

And it wouldn't be silly to suggest that it might come to that. Greece was a military dictatorship for many years. The conditions are there for it to become one again. Depression-level unemployment (20% general, 50% youth), massive small and medium enterprise failures as austerity chokes off the flow of spending through the economy, reducing business income, causing them to lay off workers who are also consumers, leading to further reductions in income, pressure from a foreign cabal to slash spending on schools, hospitals etc, across the board slashing of wages and pensions again reducing consumers ability to consume, reducing tax revenue to the governent - austerity is the worst approach possible to Greece's problems.

I don't see any reason a violent uprising might not break out under these conditions.

[Jovial Monk]

And spread.

[IQS.RLOW]

The Greeks are lazy socialists.
The only war they will start is one like monk would.

Start a twitterblog and CHANGE TEH WORLD!!!ONE!!!!

[Leftwinger]

Stinging comeback there. Packed with facts and understanding

[IQS.RLOW]

Better than your "just print teh more money and save teh Greece"

You don't have any answers, only rag on the solutions which is common fiscal knowledge and something that you have no understanding of.