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Why Euro is a current factor of the crisis? Those people saying this are mostly old fashioned monetarists that would like to "pay" out the debt producing money

Why Euro is a current factor of the crisis? Those people saying this are mostly old fashioned monetarists that would like to "pay" out the debt producing money and inflation. Italy 80s. Not sure that is a good idea. Especially, it doesn't solve the problem that is, again, too much spending compared to the income (yes, Europe crisis is as simple as that). I am not sure about Sweden, but I know Denmark and it's like you say. But in fact the problem is not too much spending, it is too much spending in relation to the income generated by taxes.

loup-vaillant 15y ago
As far as I know, one of the biggest budget for our countries is debt service. Too much spending you say? Fine, cut on that budget, it's useless anyway. Or, rather, it should be. When you think about it, the idea a government debt is ludicrous. When a government needs money, it should just "print" it. To avoid too much inflation, it just needs to destroy money through taxes. In other words, governments should be able to borrow from their central banks at 0% interest rate. Oh, and private banks should not be allowed to create money at all, be it through fractional reserve banking, credit default swaps, or tax havens. Money is too important to be left in the hands of such a tiny special interest group. Now how do the system actually works? Private banks create the money, lend it to everyone else including governments (because governments relinquished the right to create money around the 70s), and force everybody to pay back at an interest. In the end, there is more debt than money, so the system is bound to either fail or grow exponentially. This is nuts.
cromulent 15y ago
The Euro is a current factor of the crisis as that is what makes (for example) Greece's problem into Germany's problem. Germany has an interest rate of 2%, Greece 18%. Germany has debt of 83% of GDP, Greece has 180%. If Greece still had the drachma, then they could devalue it and work out their own problems. However, they don't. It is now the problem of every Eurozone country as their economies are linked to Greece through the Euro. And, given the nature of Europe, if the Eurozone has severe problems then so does everyone else. That's why it's a European crisis and not a Greece/Portugal/etc spending problem - because of the Euro.
- viandante 15y ago
  Crisis in south Europe is due to public overspending (Where do you live? Do you understand how the money is spent down there?) Anyway, of course if you produce more money, you still have a spending problem. Only way to solve this in the long term is either increasing taxes or lowering the expenses. You choose.
  - cgrand-net 15y ago
    Producing more money doesn't fix bad spending policies but it reduces debt -- both private and public -- at the expense of the lenders. It's also a way to alter the capital/work incomes ratio. There is, rightly, a German trauma towards devaluation -- and that's why they agreed to be part of the Eurozone as long as the Euro was managed like the Mark.
  - viandante 15y ago
    That kind of debt decrease is just another tax. A sublte one, but a tax. And if you do that, then nobody will want to borrow you money at normal interest rates. Again, Italy 80s, we did it and it did not work.

loup-vaillant 15y ago

As far as I know, one of the biggest budget for our countries is debt service. Too much spending you say? Fine, cut on that budget, it's useless anyway. Or, rather, it should be. When you think about it, the idea a government debt is ludicrous. When a government needs money, it should just "print" it. To avoid too much inflation, it just needs to destroy money through taxes. In other words, governments should be able to borrow from their central banks at 0% interest rate. Oh, and private banks should not be allowed to create money at all, be it through fractional reserve banking, credit default swaps, or tax havens. Money is too important to be left in the hands of such a tiny special interest group. Now how do the system actually works? Private banks create the money, lend it to everyone else including governments (because governments relinquished the right to create money around the 70s), and force everybody to pay back at an interest. In the end, there is more debt than money, so the system is bound to either fail or grow exponentially. This is nuts.

cromulent 15y ago

The Euro is a current factor of the crisis as that is what makes (for example) Greece's problem into Germany's problem. Germany has an interest rate of 2%, Greece 18%. Germany has debt of 83% of GDP, Greece has 180%. If Greece still had the drachma, then they could devalue it and work out their own problems. However, they don't. It is now the problem of every Eurozone country as their economies are linked to Greece through the Euro. And, given the nature of Europe, if the Eurozone has severe problems then so does everyone else. That's why it's a European crisis and not a Greece/Portugal/etc spending problem - because of the Euro.

viandante 15y ago
Crisis in south Europe is due to public overspending (Where do you live? Do you understand how the money is spent down there?) Anyway, of course if you produce more money, you still have a spending problem. Only way to solve this in the long term is either increasing taxes or lowering the expenses. You choose.
- cgrand-net 15y ago
  Producing more money doesn't fix bad spending policies but it reduces debt -- both private and public -- at the expense of the lenders. It's also a way to alter the capital/work incomes ratio. There is, rightly, a German trauma towards devaluation -- and that's why they agreed to be part of the Eurozone as long as the Euro was managed like the Mark.
- viandante 15y ago
  That kind of debt decrease is just another tax. A sublte one, but a tax. And if you do that, then nobody will want to borrow you money at normal interest rates. Again, Italy 80s, we did it and it did not work.