NP - Why the Euro Is a Selfish Jerk

[Jerome Park]

Right. It's not about Greek debt's drag on GDP. The weak recovery in Europe
and in the Euro zone is owed to three factors: 1. the liquidity trap crisis
that rocked the global economy after the housing bubble popped in America
and set off a contagion in the banks and markets. 2. The poor response to
the crisis, that included foolish austerity measures. 3 the supply side
glut of commodities and labor production.

Greece has been the whipping boy.

At this point it is easy to help Greece because the new government has the
confidence of the Greek people and is determined to stand on democratic
principle and support its most vulnerable citizens, money is cheap and QE
is now more than words, the Euro zone is on track to defeat deflation and
growth, minimal growth is visible.

On Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 9:15 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> The total Greek debt is about 1% of the total European GDP.  Hardly a
> ransom.  More like a pittance.
>
> On Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 5:42 AM, Jerome Park <jeromepark3141 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Who is holding taxpayers hostage and nourishing corruption? This is, of
>> course, the hyperbolic propaganda peddled by Germany, the Banks, Wall
>> Street, others,  who are undermining the elected government in Greece so
>> that they can further reduce the incomes, pensions, and benefits of the
>> Greek citizens, further devalue the assets of the Greek nation, sell off or
>> purchase at fire sale prices, or gain favorable lease use of those valuable
>> assets, not to share this wealth German citizens or any other citizen in
>> the Euro zone or in Europe, but to boost the profits at banks, profits that
>> have been held down by the regulations imposed on the banks after they
>> nearly pulled global economy off a cliff. That's what this is about. Greece
>> is the focus, not because its relatively small economy is holding taxpayers
>> in Germany or elsewhere hostage or nourishing corruption, but because
>> Greece is resisting the working and living conditions that the troika wants
>> to impose on it, refusing to sell off its assets at fire sale prices,
>> refusing to accept all the blame for the bad loans and bad deals, refusing
>> to pay what it can not be reasonably expected to pay. That Germans would
>> buy into the idea that Greeks are the cause of a weakened German citizen
>> who must pay for Greek sins shows how effective the propaganda is in
>> Germany.
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 3:29 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen <
>> lorentzen at hotmail.de> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Have Gyros and Greek sex as much as you need, but you certainly must be
>>> joking ...
>>>
>>> If economic life in Germany was organized the way it is organized in
>>> Greece, the Euro zone would collapse immediately.
>>>
>>> I have no problem with calling the Euro off. Actually this probably
>>> would be the best, and the voters from the Euro zone nations should have
>>> the chance to decide democratically about this per referendum, as well as
>>> about EU membership in general. If the Greeks succeeded in finding new
>>> sponsors in China and Russia, this would of course be pretty cool. However,
>>> so far we're into this together, and it's unfair to take the other Euro
>>> countries' taxpayers as hostages when you wanna nourish your corruption.
>>>
>>> That you cannot start a business in Greece without paying someone in
>>> whose family this business in that particular place is run for three
>>> generations, has nothing to do with 'austerity.' It has to do with
>>> protectionism and corruption. That the milk price is three till four times
>>> higher than in Germany, has nothing to do with 'austerity.' It has to do
>>> protectionism and corruption. That you cannot get hospital treatment (or
>>> other public services) without paying bribery, has nothing to do with
>>> 'austerity.' It has to do with protectionism and corruption ...
>>>
>>> The hard shadow of the Greek economy ...
>>>
>>> *Abstract:* This article presents new estimates of the Greek
>>> underground economy and explores the link between the underground economy
>>> and aggregate debt. We show that the Greek underground economy has been
>>> underestimated heavily and has been on a rising trend again since Greece
>>> adopted the Euro. We also present evidence that the size of the underground
>>> economy is positively related to the debt-to-GDP ratio, implying that
>>> fighting the underground economy is also conducive to financial and
>>> macroeconomic stability. Our results suggest that for our sample of 11 EMU
>>> member countries, the loss of the inflation tax as an economic policy
>>> instrument had drastic consequences. While the underground economy did not
>>> have a statistically significant impact on aggregate debt before the
>>> introduction of the Euro, it has pushed up the debt-to-GDP ratio in our
>>> sample since.
>>>
>>>
>>> http://econpapers.repec.org/article/tafapplec/v_3a46_3ay_3a2014_3ai_3a18_3ap_3a2190-2204.htm
>>>
>>> The share of the underground economy has risen to over 60 (in words:
>>> "sixty") percent of the overall economic activity ... What is this, the
>>> Caribbean at the times of Mason & Dixon?!
>>>
>>> The Rothbard quote was to hint at Keynes' (and today's Keynesianists')
>>> unwillingness to face the problem of debts. Debts, though a 'social
>>> construction,' are very real.
>>>
>>> If all the Greek taxes got paid - and I'm talking just about what's
>>> already officially in the books -, Greece would be free from debt. Ain't
>>> that funny?
>>>
>>>
>>> On 20.04.2015 22:47, Jerome Park wrote:
>>>
>>> So why the pension envy? Germans and Greeks have the same life
>>> expectancy; Greeks have better pensions and better weather, sex, food....so
>>> why not argue that Germans should live better and not that Greeks should
>>> live like Germans?
>>>
>>> On Mon, Apr 20, 2015 at 8:35 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen <
>>> lorentzen at hotmail.de> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Keynes is dead and we're living in his long run.
>>>>
>>>> -
>>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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