Europe Still Slouching Toward Catastrophe

[MindMover]

The eurozone economy is headed toward recession again, and Ryan Avent is beside himself:

Ordinarily, of course, policymakers would react to this deterioration by taking steps to stabilise the economy. What is most frightening about the euro-area picture is that this is not happening. For now, austerity remains the rule. Despite the nastiness of the economic picture, the ECB is widely expected to take no action at its meeting tomorrow. The euro area is walking, eyes wide open, into depression. Led by its periphery, which is already there.

....If, when all of this is said and done, the euro zone descends into a chaotic, costly break-up, many people will write that such a thing was inevitable, unavoidable. They'll be wrong. We are watching causation this very moment: institutions that know how and why to prevent things from falling apart and which nonetheless sit back and do nothing.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/05/europe-still-slouching-toward-catastrophe

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Facts are ambiguous , Questions & Results

[MindMover]

2. You might want to look at this website for more facts.....

"If Only" They Had Listened

http://theautomaticearth.org/Finance/qif-onlyq-they-had-listened.html

[orpupilofnature57]

7. It's full of information and shows the 1%

move to & fro and that politics in Europe has been Victimized by speculators that cause havoc and apathy at the same time and benefit ,extracting the marrow of affluence and security FROM us 99% around the world .

[MindMover]

8. Well, that pretty much sums up the greed factor....now, what to do about it...?

[orpupilofnature57]

11. Make ' Narcissistic Fibrosis ' punishable by

Death.

[banned from Kos]

3. there is no solution now - the Greeks lied their way into the Euro

Spain and Italy merely spent their way into massive debt.

[cthulu2016]

6. It's more than that, though.

Our debt and the UK's debt and Japan's debt are as large but it's ok because we control our currencies.

Leaving villainization of individual states aside, there is no room in the eurozone for normal fiscal policy in tough times.

If the US was in the euro we might not have been able to do even the little bit we have done over here to keep this thing from turning into a depression.

The euro came in during a wildly robust economic period and it was assumed that times would always be good...

[banned from Kos]

10. You're right, of course. You know your shit and so do I.

you post it well!

[cthulu2016]

12. I would like to see an estimate of

what the unemployment rate would be in each country if they were all in fiscal sync with Germany. I assume it would be some big numbers... 35% in Greece, 25% in Italy, etc.

(Since unemployment is always nominally higher in Europe that might be low.)

Since they are all democracies I doubt the euro could have survived any major down-turn... how do you tell people, "We're have 30% unemployment here because it is important that we not borrow money so that our bond interest rates will stay comparable to Germany's"

Who would vote for that? Okay... Americans, but who else? (joke, but not a joke)

[cthulu2016]

4. Yes... and No

"If, when all of this is said and done, the euro zone descends into a chaotic, costly break-up, many people will write that such a thing was inevitable, unavoidable"

The excerpt conflates two things.

1) Best policy action for europe
2) Break-up of eurozone

The policies being pursued are TERRIBLE.

But that said, the right policies wouldn't necessarily save the eurozone. They would, however, lead to higher economic growth in europe.

[xchrom]

5. The West - America included - is suffering from

A systemic failure of institutions people rely on.

Why? How? Has the West married itself to the catastrophic failures?

The examples are notable - they're huge - many - economic failures, environmental, wars, etc.

Either it all returns to a 'People First' ethos or we stay on this road.

Oh & it will spread - or {Fukushima} it is spreading.

[orpupilofnature57]

9. Unchecked Authorities relying on Expert Advisor's

hired to consult ,fudging reality for results ,hence ,,, { Fukushima }