NP - Germany Won't Budge on Austerity: Economic Suicide is Character Building

[alice malice]

Oh, did I mention those sanctions on Russia? Yeah, great for the US,
not so great for Germany. So, yeah, maybe the US is not the voice the
Germans need to hear right now.

And what about the Central Bank? Can't blame Germany for everything
there. Maybe they should hire Bernanke; he needs a job that pays
better, he just got denied a mortgage here in the US.

The Obama Washington gridlock is actually helping small companies and
ordinary people. So, we will lose some profits from trade, with the
strong dollar here, and jobs will return as local wages shift upward a
bit, but these profits are, for the most part, going to giant
companies and their stockholders--Exon & Co..

In the US, it is Goldilocks.  In Europe it is Putin & Hansel and Gretel.

On Sun, Oct 12, 2014 at 6:09 AM, alice malice <alicewmalice at gmail.com> wrote:
> But if I were a German, I might ask:
>
> What about the fact that the US has recovered, albeit, slower and
> weaker than it might have if Washington had not used austerity
> measures, and the fact that this recovery,  has, despite austerity,
> made steady progress on reducing debt, and its costs, improved
> employment, while keeping wage inflation at zero,  its competitive
> positions in global markets, despite a strong dollar, has managed,
> with its American partners, chiefly Mexico and Canada, to  turn its
> greatest weakness, dependence on foreign energy, into its greatest
> strength, cheap energy, and is now on-shoreing, and in-sourcing, as it
> continues to automate, and grow, its knowledge economy, even as it
> wastes so much on its stupid wars?
>
> In other words, the US has austerity and, while its people are
> suffering a great deal under it, its economy is the only one that is
> still in a steady recovery. So why should Germany do what the US says
> it must when the US doesn't practice what it preaches? And, the US,
> with austerity,  is in better shape than Europe.
>
> It's in better shape for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is
> that lower oil prices are good for the US, and the US a domestic
> consumption driven economy.
>
> Very different in Europe.
>
> In the US, we have cleaned up the banks and the balance sheets and we
> have, well, a dynamic economy that is super resilient and this is not
> the case in Germany or in the EU.
>
> Germany and the rest now face a recession and a weaker currency, this,
> as  the incredibly low rates (negative), benched off the US low rates,
> are set to rise as the US unwinds its QE.
>
> Europe is screwed. And Germany is only doing what it needs to do to
> get in a better position to recover over the longer term.
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l