4 ms·

Because you are not allowed to beggar-thy-neigbour in a common currency area. If Germans are allowed to have a permament surplus, than someone MUST always have

Because you are not allowed to beggar-thy-neigbour in a common currency area. If Germans are allowed to have a permament surplus, than someone MUST always have a deficit.

jeroenhd 4y ago
Why? Materials get imported from outside the EU all the time and exports can also go across EU borders. It's not like Americans pay their BMWs with euros. No country has a trade surplus/deficit of exactly 0, or even near 0. There's always at least half a billion going either way. If you know of any treaties that put limits on these numbers, I'd like to know what they are because I'm very curious about the intentions behind the people who would draft something like that. Going by https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2013/december/tradoc_151969.pdf https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2013/december/tradoc_... (link says 2013, but document says Q1 2022), Germany had an intra-EU trade surplus of about 0.2 billion euros. Germany is the closest to a perfect balance within the eurozone in the entire EU except for Bulgaria. Their surplus is almost entirely extra-EU, which isn't a problem for EU members.
- imtringued 4y ago
  >It's not like Americans pay their BMWs with euros. The Greeks do hence they are massively in debt. No, they can't export their way out of debt because that would mean Germany has to export less and import more. Germany is supposed to be the workplace country and Greece must remain soulless suburbia with no job opportunities.
  - jeroenhd 4y ago
    The Greeks are in massive debt because of years of financial mismanagement and fraud, as well as cooking their books to get into the EU to make their economy look more stable than it really was. Greece can export to any country it wishes, if it has goods or resources that other countries want. If Greece can produce the Germans really want, they'll export to Germany all the way to an internal German trade deficit. The entire EU would be quite happy if Greece turned into a workers' paradise tomorrow, but no other country is going to pay to fix the mess corrupt Greek governments have left behind unless the Greek situation threatens the stability of their own economies.

Because you are not allowed to beggar-thy-neigbour in a common currency area. If Germans are allowed to have a permament surplus, than someone MUST always have a deficit.

jeroenhd 4y ago

Why? Materials get imported from outside the EU all the time and exports can also go across EU borders. It's not like Americans pay their BMWs with euros. No country has a trade surplus/deficit of exactly 0, or even near 0. There's always at least half a billion going either way. If you know of any treaties that put limits on these numbers, I'd like to know what they are because I'm very curious about the intentions behind the people who would draft something like that. Going by https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2013/december/tradoc_151969.pdf https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2013/december/tradoc_... (link says 2013, but document says Q1 2022), Germany had an intra-EU trade surplus of about 0.2 billion euros. Germany is the closest to a perfect balance within the eurozone in the entire EU except for Bulgaria. Their surplus is almost entirely extra-EU, which isn't a problem for EU members.

imtringued 4y ago
>It's not like Americans pay their BMWs with euros. The Greeks do hence they are massively in debt. No, they can't export their way out of debt because that would mean Germany has to export less and import more. Germany is supposed to be the workplace country and Greece must remain soulless suburbia with no job opportunities.
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  The Greeks are in massive debt because of years of financial mismanagement and fraud, as well as cooking their books to get into the EU to make their economy look more stable than it really was. Greece can export to any country it wishes, if it has goods or resources that other countries want. If Greece can produce the Germans really want, they'll export to Germany all the way to an internal German trade deficit. The entire EU would be quite happy if Greece turned into a workers' paradise tomorrow, but no other country is going to pay to fix the mess corrupt Greek governments have left behind unless the Greek situation threatens the stability of their own economies.