3 ms·

I'm not qualified to judge whether Piketty is correct but I can offer this analogy. In the past, when I have loaned money to friends and family, my attitude was

• fredm-de 11y ago
  Here's the problem: Merkel can't politically justify to give Greece more german taxpayer money because it isn't spent wisely. After 5 years of crisis, Greece still has a primary deficit, while maintaining more extensive welfare programs than most EU Members. Even in the case of debt forgiveness, they would still have a massive household deficit and be in the same situation again soon. So it's not about getting money back, it's about not burning more money.
  • the_why_of_y 11y ago
    > After 5 years of crisis, Greece still has a primary deficit, Greece had a primary surplus in 2014. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/greece-revises-down-2014-primary-170017774.html http://finance.yahoo.com/news/greece-revises-down-2014-prima... > while maintaining more extensive welfare programs than most EU Members. What extensive welfare programs would that be? The 12 months of unemployment insurance? They don't even have a means-tested program to ensure a subsistence minimum for people younger than 45 years! http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/governance/greece-reform-of-social-welfare-programmes/the-current-greek-benefit-system_9789264196490-7-en#page4 http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/governa...