Monday, June 29, 2015

If U.S. becomes Greece, it's because of the GOP

And because of Obama...

Joseph Stiglitz interview at TIME: He says of the so-called "troika" of financial institutions that bailed out the Greek economy in 2010, namely the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank: “They have criminal responsibility. It’s a kind of criminal responsibility for causing a major recession”.

Along with a growing number of the world’s most influential economists, Stiglitz has begun to urge the troika to forgive Greece’s debt — estimated to be worth close to $300 billion in bailouts — and to offer the stimulus money that two successive Greek governments have been requesting. Failure to do so, Stiglitz argues, would not only worsen the recession in Greece (already deeper and more prolonged than the Great Depression in the U.S.), it would also wreck the credibility of Europe’s common currency (the Euro) and put the global economy at risk of contagion.

Paul Krugman at the New York Times: "The situation in Greece has now reached what looks like a point of no return. Banks are temporarily closed and the government has imposed capital controls. It seems highly likely that the government will soon have to start paying pensions and wages in scrip, in effect creating a parallel currency. And next week the country will hold a referendum on whether to accept the demands of the “troika” for yet more austerity. Greece should vote “no,” and the Greek government should be ready, if necessary, to leave the euro."

I'd also like to know: If the U.S. has so little financial "exposure" to Greece, then why is the DOW down -338 points (as of June 29th) on this news?

The pundits on Fox News were complaining today that Greece is going broke because their people don’t work and sit around all day drinking Ouzo, instead of reforming their entitlements — and also said America will end up the same way as Greece unless we reform (aka cut) our entitlements (i.g. Social Security) — and said we should ask Bernie Sanders ("The Socialist") what he plans on doing about our debt.

Our debt doesn't come from Social Security, it comes from borrowing from China because we offshored our jobs over there (and India, and Vietnam, and Mexico, and ...) and then we import their crap back here, driving up our trade deficit and lowering our tax base. The proposed trade agreements we currently have (TPP, TTIP and TiSA) that the majority of Republicans voted for (that the majority of Democrats were against), will further decay our economy and gives us more debt and trade deficits.

  • Death by China (Review) Film Shows where all the Jobs Have Gone
  • Death by China (Full movie at YouTube)
  • Death by China (Official Trailer)
  • Wiki: "Death by China: Confronting the Dragon – A Global Call to Action" is a 2011 non-fiction book by economics professor Peter Navarro and Greg Autry. From currency manipulation and abusive trade policies, to slave labor and deadly consumer products, the threats to global economic stability and world peace posed by China's corrupt and ruthless governing Communist Party.

The GOP just voted to give Fast Track to Obama to pass more trade deals, such as TPP, TTIP and TiSA — giving us more of the same (like we did with NAFTA and other bad trade deals) — so if we become more "Greece", we'll only have Obama and the GOP to blame if we all end up sitting around all day drinking Budweiser.

5 comments:

  1. CNN just reported that, because of Greece, America could lose jobs --- and the prices of goods and services could rise in the U.S.

    Who would have thought that a bunch of Ouzo drinking unemployed slackers on the other side of the world could bring America's economy to its knees?

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    Replies
    1. Note to unemployed Greek workers: That last comment was sarcasm ;)

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    2. Joseph E. Stiglitz: The U.S. Must Save Greece

      "As the Greek saga continues, many have marveled at Germany’s chutzpah. It received, in real terms, one of the largest bailout and debt reduction in history and unconditional aid from the U.S. in the Marshall Plan [after WWII]. And yet it refuses even to discuss debt relief [for Greece]. Many, too, have marveled at how Germany has done so well in the propaganda game, selling an image of a long-failed state that refuses to go along with the minimal conditions demanded in return for generous aid ... Greece needs unconditional humanitarian aid; it needs Americans to buy its products, take vacations there, and show a solidarity with Greece and a humanity that its European partners were not able to display."

      http://time.com/3949954/joseph-e-stiglitz-greece-crisis/

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  2. Good read...

    Greece: Why Is a Nation of 11 Million Causing Stock Market Losses Around the World Today?

    http://wallstreetonparade.com/2015/06/greece-why-is-a-nation-of-11-million-causing-stock-market-losses-around-the-world-today/

    ReplyDelete
  3. To Anonymous, regarding comment: "Take back the jobs and money that China stole from us."

    Did China "steal" or did our Congress "give away"?

    ReplyDelete