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Soros would be probably the last I would listen to. Money and politics is a toxic mix. He influences politics and markets to create chaos to make profit out of

by lispm 11y ago

Soros would be probably the last I would listen to. Money and politics is a toxic mix. He influences politics and markets to create chaos to make profit out of it. He is still upset that his manipulations against the EU and the Euro has failed. In the last few years the news of the collapse of the Euro was daily in the headlines of interested newspapers and magazines, manipulated by persons like Soros. The Euro is still there and the EU, too. Don't hold you breath to see them collapse.

matt4077 11y ago
I don't think Soros' civic engagement is connected to his investments in the ways you think I've been involved in some of the projects run by his OpenSociety Foundation and the work they do is clearly Pro-EU.
- DominikR 11y ago
  Clearly Pro EU work like handing out guides to immigration to people in the Middle East and inviting millions to come over here. We are all very happy about that here in the EU! There have been more than 800 arson attacks on refugee homes in Germany alone in the last year. One more summer like this and you're going to regularly see German mobs beating up random Arab looking persons on the street.
- iofj 11y ago
  This is how George Soros became a billionaire : http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/george-soros-bank-of-england.asp http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/george-soros-bank... Of course he's pro-massive bureaucracies. He thinks it'd be excellent if he could repeat this action. But let's not confuse that with being pro-Euro. He wants a bigger Eurozone because it'll be more exploitable. He's just a wolf advocating for fatter sheep.
deleted 11y ago
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- joeyspn 11y ago
  > What makes you think he wants the EU to collapse? Probably his shorts... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
riffraff 11y ago
yet, if what he says makes sense, should we really disregard it because he's rich? This is somewhat like the conspiracy theorists that assume bill gates charity only exists to make him more money.
spangry 11y ago
Just to provide the counterpoint (perhaps from a less biased position than Soros): the EU was doomed from the start due to member countries (excluding GB) losing sovereignty over monetary policy (i.e. common currency) but retaining sovereignty over fiscal policy. This is a problem because there is no strong mechanism for 'horizontal fiscal equalisation' (HFE) across EU member countries. Take Greece and Germany in the lead up to the GFC for instance. Germany's economy is going great-guns and national income is rising thanks to their strong exports. Greece is not doing so well, with low productivity and low or negative economic growth. If Greece was not in the EU, they'd have had two options to stimulate their economy: government spends more (fiscal policy) or its central bank lowers interest rates (monetary policy). The latter option also has the nice side benefit of depreciating their currency, meaning their exports become more price competitive. However, because they're a member of the EU monetary union, they're stuck with the Euro as their currency. Which has a single centrally set interest rate. So with Germany (and other EU countries) doing well, while Greece (and others) doing poorly, the European Central Bank sets the interest rate 'too low' for Germany, and 'too high' for Greece. Therefore, Greece's only option is to deficit spend. And they have to spend more than normal because EU monetary policy is working against them and they have little to no control over it. And because there's no HFE, they have to go in to extreme budget deficit despite being monetarily yoked to countries like Germany. I think that the monetary union will eventually dissolve and EU nations will move back to sovereign monetary policy. It's hard to imagine the alternative: an effective and formal HFE mechanism being agreed. It's a hard sell in domestic politics, especially if you happen to be one of the 'successful' countries, who must now cross-subsidise 'unproductive' neighbours. It's just my speculation, but I suspect they'll hold on to free trade and 'open boarders' within the EU.
- DominikR 11y ago
  I agree with your description of the situation but on the other hand it can't be the solution for an economy to engage in currency wars. Greek labour SHOULD be priced lower than labour in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria or the UK because it is less productive. Once its labour is priced correctly it should cause foreign investors to invest there, which would in turn increase productivity. I think austerity is not the issue, the problem is that the EU forces Greece to take on larger credits and even larger credits after that instead of letting dysfunctional parts of the Greek economy go bankrupt.

by lispm 11y ago

matt4077 11y ago

I don't think Soros' civic engagement is connected to his investments in the ways you think I've been involved in some of the projects run by his OpenSociety Foundation and the work they do is clearly Pro-EU.

DominikR 11y ago
Clearly Pro EU work like handing out guides to immigration to people in the Middle East and inviting millions to come over here. We are all very happy about that here in the EU! There have been more than 800 arson attacks on refugee homes in Germany alone in the last year. One more summer like this and you're going to regularly see German mobs beating up random Arab looking persons on the street.
iofj 11y ago
This is how George Soros became a billionaire : http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/george-soros-bank-of-england.asp http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/george-soros-bank... Of course he's pro-massive bureaucracies. He thinks it'd be excellent if he could repeat this action. But let's not confuse that with being pro-Euro. He wants a bigger Eurozone because it'll be more exploitable. He's just a wolf advocating for fatter sheep.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

joeyspn 11y ago
> What makes you think he wants the EU to collapse? Probably his shorts... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

riffraff 11y ago

yet, if what he says makes sense, should we really disregard it because he's rich? This is somewhat like the conspiracy theorists that assume bill gates charity only exists to make him more money.

spangry 11y ago

Just to provide the counterpoint (perhaps from a less biased position than Soros): the EU was doomed from the start due to member countries (excluding GB) losing sovereignty over monetary policy (i.e. common currency) but retaining sovereignty over fiscal policy. This is a problem because there is no strong mechanism for 'horizontal fiscal equalisation' (HFE) across EU member countries. Take Greece and Germany in the lead up to the GFC for instance. Germany's economy is going great-guns and national income is rising thanks to their strong exports. Greece is not doing so well, with low productivity and low or negative economic growth. If Greece was not in the EU, they'd have had two options to stimulate their economy: government spends more (fiscal policy) or its central bank lowers interest rates (monetary policy). The latter option also has the nice side benefit of depreciating their currency, meaning their exports become more price competitive. However, because they're a member of the EU monetary union, they're stuck with the Euro as their currency. Which has a single centrally set interest rate. So with Germany (and other EU countries) doing well, while Greece (and others) doing poorly, the European Central Bank sets the interest rate 'too low' for Germany, and 'too high' for Greece. Therefore, Greece's only option is to deficit spend. And they have to spend more than normal because EU monetary policy is working against them and they have little to no control over it. And because there's no HFE, they have to go in to extreme budget deficit despite being monetarily yoked to countries like Germany. I think that the monetary union will eventually dissolve and EU nations will move back to sovereign monetary policy. It's hard to imagine the alternative: an effective and formal HFE mechanism being agreed. It's a hard sell in domestic politics, especially if you happen to be one of the 'successful' countries, who must now cross-subsidise 'unproductive' neighbours. It's just my speculation, but I suspect they'll hold on to free trade and 'open boarders' within the EU.

DominikR 11y ago
I agree with your description of the situation but on the other hand it can't be the solution for an economy to engage in currency wars. Greek labour SHOULD be priced lower than labour in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria or the UK because it is less productive. Once its labour is priced correctly it should cause foreign investors to invest there, which would in turn increase productivity. I think austerity is not the issue, the problem is that the EU forces Greece to take on larger credits and even larger credits after that instead of letting dysfunctional parts of the Greek economy go bankrupt.