Under an accompanying heading – “Beyond Greece” – the German Handelsblatt (a daily financial/business newspaper) published the article (July 14, 2015) – The Uncomfortable Truth About Debt. It was meant to be some sort of justification for the touch German stance against Greece. The authors claimed that “Germany has been hounded internationally for taking a hard line on Greece. But there is a bigger problem on the horizon: the debt mountain in Europe, and the world, is too high”. My BS sensors were on high alert as I read the opening paragraphs. There was good reason for my alert – the article, which would have been read by tens of thousands of German corporate sector managers etc, demonstrates a palpable failure to comprehend what the real issues confronting the Eurozone are and how Eurozone Member States (19 of them) are fundamentally different in terms of fiscal capacity relative to nations that issue their own currency. No wonder the political classes in Germany can get away with behaving so abominably.Recall that even trade expert Paul Krugman didn't realize this until fairly recently some time after MMT proponents started beating him in his comments section. The rest of them are still lost in the weeds.
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Beyond metaphor … comes total nonsense, German style
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
7 comments:
It's not simply Germany that doesn't understand this, it's most of the world and ALL of mainstream economics, either out of blind ignorance or, because of a dark and sinister desire to propagate a dogma that benefits a relative few.
The thing is, the kind of stupidity the world is showing now was laughed out of the public sphere in the 19th century, but is now coming back. Once upon a time in the west, there were debtors prisons. People with debts were placed in a prison, where it was almost impossible to earn any kind of significant income, and where they were supposed to stay until they paid. The total absurdity of this situation soon became apparent to all clear-thinking people. It was understood that if you want struggling people to pay debts that can still be repaid, job one is to figure out how they can grow their incomes. And if debts can't be repaid, they won't - and no extended stay in debtors' prison would change that.
German policy is utterly asinine and backward. Their formula for Greece is to put the whole country in a debtors' prison: an income-restricting austerity straight-jacket that over time makes it less and less and less likely that the creditors ever get paid, while in the process impoverishing Greece and Greeks needlessly.
And the underlying cause of the stupidity is the same: an obtuse moral fanaticism that puts stubborn adherence to moral principles about the obligations of debtors ahead of practical outcomes.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/07/convert-to-the-drachma-piece-of-cake-right.html
So your saying it's motivated by sheer stupidity? There's no "ulterior motive," like, Germany wanting to dominate? Or, saving Deutsche Bank out of nationl interest, pride?
My take is that is about taking down a "Leftist" government, on one hand, and this is clear from the support that Germany is getting from rightist governments from whom this is a priority, and also "reforming" Greece, that is "liberalizing" it by eliminating the welfare state and privatizing public assets. This is clear from the demands in the plan. Greece forfeits its sovereignty, slashes social spending, the size of government, and worker bargaining power, and sells off public assets.
Almost everyone serious has responded to that with the charge that it is political and not economic, in fact, it is uneconomic in that it just drives Greece deeper into debt, which means that the liberals can force Greece to keep cutting more and privatizing more.
The Handelsblatt article is an ode to ordoliberalism, the part of the population infectes with this brain parasite is sick and needs medical help. Maybe some long vacations in a warm place like Greece would be therapeutic to start with...
Mike if they are missing this knowledge then other motivations like you point out can definitely become operative...
Ive yet to meet someone who demonstrates receipt of this knowledge who can then remain under those types of motivations...
So this knowledge is powerful... the thing is it looks like this knowledge is very difficult for most to receive... at this point. ..
Rsp
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