A funny thing happened at the White House

[another1]

when countries like greece, etc could spent money tied to the german led european economy they could promise and provide their citizens the moon.
when bond buyers starting questioning the ability of greek nation-state to repay for the money they was borrowing, it became important to know if somebody (germany & france) would back the bonds. the german and french people are not as keen on paying for greek mistakes as their government might be.

 

[cumrag27]

What Germans are you talking about? How about Chancellor Bruning and Hjalmer Schacht?

The current German economy is based upon a huge export market which helps finance all the state spending that the Germans also like. In todays world, not every nation can have exports like and the size of the Germans.

Finally, what you and it seems Tampa are completely missing is that we are currently in a world wide recession which could slip into a depression. Austerity will certainly make the current recession much worse. Recent Euro economic numbers certainly bear this out.

You sound like you might be a "gold bug" (someone who favors a return to having money backed by gold). This is truly a bad idea from the Dark Ages of Econolmics. But, certainly Bruning and Schacht would agree.

All I can say is thank god for the French and their new President.

Dear Blue011,

I agree with all of your economic conclusions. "Austerity" for its own sake simply removes the entrepreneurial spirit in the country's economy. Corporate welfare, a kind of SOCIALISM, has existed since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the form of free land grants, railroad right-of-ways, protection of patents, and other governmental incentives intended to attract investment. But rather than only concentrating on the super rich top 1%ers, our greatest strength historically has been our well-established middle class and without them, we would eventually become a third-world Banana Republic or lower country. Without the middle class, we would not have won WWII.

France and Germany are replete with social programs. Germany has had universal health care since the 1850's. Yes, I said 1850's. So what is wrong with our picture that our workers we depend on can't expect the nation to look after their own health needs. I SIMPLY FIND THIS SIMPLY UNBELIEVABLE and UNACCEPTIBLE, especially when our own "captains of industry", our national politicians, and our bankers can't conceive their own life without having health insurance! Now, they need to think broader, a little outside the BOX, to include our American Middle Class People.

For all of those "penny-pinching austerity hawks", remember that the workers are America's greatest economic assets, not the billionaires. Without the workers, we produce nothing! We have to realize this and stop dismissing them while inversely expecting constantly improving productivity. Who else can claim this? Certainly not Wall Street, Financial Institutions, or top management of major industrial manufacturers.

I believe in reviving the long ignored infrastructure as well as the old addage that..."You got to spend a little money to make a little money!"

It is nice to get to know you better!


Sincerely,


$timpy