The coronavirus is going to teach — or, to be more precise, reteach — some hard economic lessons. One of them is probably going to be the need for policymakers to focus on money a bit less and real resources a bit more.
It's called coming back down to earth. Hopefully, without crashing. But when you have been flying up in the clouds for so long..…
In purely practical and material terms, all of these problems are entirely solvable. The problem is the abstraction of money: For the people who wield and deploy financial capital, it is not profitable to solve these problems....
The Week
Can coronavirus bring economics back down to reality?
Jeff Spross
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The coronavirus is going to teach — or, to be more precise, reteach — some hard economic lessons. One of them is probably going to be the need for policymakers to focus on money a bit less and real resources
Real resources: Example: a nation's scientists and medical personnel.
From the New York Times:
Greece Curbs Coronavirus, Defying Expectations
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/greece-curbs-coronavirus-defying-expectations/ar-BB13mKdc
Well what did they do right? The Greek government listened to their scientists, allowing them to lead on policy and overseeing country's response to the coronavirus outbreak.
It has been noted here that Greece has tested only a small percentage of its population. Sure, point is noted. But, and there're two mega "buts" here: one, total deaths have been very small; two, Greece has one of the oldest populations in Europe. So let's take Greece's actions of listening to its scientists and taking quick action compared to, say, Belgium's actions, or rather inactions, of listening to its economists and compare deaths due to the coronavirus:
Belgium: c. 7,500 deaths
Greece: c.150 deaths
… and yes, both countries have similar population size.
What possessed the Greeks to listen to their scientists?
"We consciously preferred to make a significant financial sacrifice rather than sacrifice human life." -- The Greek minister of state
OK, I see -- and from a right wing government to boot, too!
PS: All Greek governments, whether right, left or in-between, take their orders from the United States. The last one that didn't was the government of Andreas Papandreou in the 1980s; it totally freaked out the Americans. Now the good thing for Greece of a Trump government is that the US state department is... understaffed [snicker]. So, you know, not too many orders coming Greece's way :) Doubly beneficial for Cyprus, too!
The State Department Is Still Dangerously Understaffed
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/04/the-state-department-is-still-understaffed
virus lives for longer periods outside of a host in colder climate...
"The problem is the abstraction of money: "
"money" is not an abstraction it is a figure of speech... metonym...
USD is an abstraction...
and Abstractions are never a "problem" for competent/qualified properly trained people who are trained to employ them... those people know they are not real and not figures of speech either...
Just because this guy is stupid doenst mean everyone else is...
It's called coming back down to earth. Hopefully, without crashing. But when you have been flying up in the clouds for so long..…
First person who came to mind after reading the above was this nut:
Elon Musk@elonmusk 9h
FREE AMERICA NOW
His nuttiness has gone full MAGA :(
When will the Greek government resume killing its people through austerity?
"When will the Greek government resume killing its people through austerity?"
I dunno, PP, but they have been doing a lousy job of it:
-- The current life expectancy for Greece in 2020 is 82.31 years, a 0.2% increase from 2019.
-- The life expectancy for Greece in 2019 was 82.14 years, a 0.2% increase from 2018.
-- The life expectancy for Greece in 2018 was 81.98 years, a 0.22% increase from 2017.
-- The life expectancy for Greece in 2017 was 81.80 years, a 0.22% increase from 2016..
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/GRC/greece/life-expectancy
That's nice, but I'm looking for deaths.
If we know how many Greeks are being killed by coronavirus, surely we can calculate how many have succumbed to austerity?
There is no austerity...
The ECB is buying trillions of bonds and taking the coupon payments and distributing those revenues BACK to the member nations based NOT on GDP but rather on POPULATION...
Greece has a higher relative EZ population % than EZ GDP %...
So the Greece Treasury gets those euros back and it results in deficit reduction and they can increase withdrawals hgiher than otherwise and still hit the Treaty deficit targets..
Greece has been doing very well since ECB has implemented their QE on steroids policy..
You have to look at govt transfers not "the deficit!"...
What is the Federal govts transfers? higher or lower?
Within any system, the difference result of a subtraction (eg deficit!) can never be causal... the minuend is causal... subtrahend is a loss or perhaps leakage...
“There is no austerity...”
A the master denialist is cherry-picking again. A quick look at the real economy shows something else.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-economy-budget/greece-aims-for-strong-economic-growth-tax-cuts-in-2020-idUSKBN1WM15M
“As well as broadening the tax base, the conservative government wants to cut taxes for businesses and increase social spending next year. The policies it plans are worth 1.2 billion euros, the budget said, and will help spur growth.”
They were the best economy in EZ before Wuhan virus...
ECB EUR transfers to Greece correcting for productivity difference between Greece and rest of EZ...
Greece govt: “ we’re going to increase social spending”
You people: “that’s austerity!”
This why nobody of policy importance listens to you losers....
Expect the Troika to be back to their usual evildoing shortly.
If not, verify if Hell has frozen over...
“Greece govt: “ we’re going to increase social spending”
You people: “that’s austerity!”“
Yes we know that in your head a decrease of $1000 and later a increase of $100 is not austerity. That’s because your cherry picking mind cannot grasp context.
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