6 ms·

As long as people continue this Greeks are reckless good for nothings myth it is going to be hard to find solutions.

by alayne 11y ago

fixxer 11y ago
Not my words. Their economy is smaller than Louisiana's, their population is more than twice, and they really, really like entitlements. Sorry if this hurts feelings, but that is not a recipe for success.
- alextgordon 11y ago
  Yet the "solution" on offer is to keep shrinking their economy??
  - duncan_bayne 11y ago
    That's a very Keynesian perspective. The Austrian (heh) school says that in fact, the tax-and-spend policies favoured by Greek voters harm the economy in a variety of ways, one of which is by encouraging malinvestment. (And I agree with them, FWIW).
duncan_bayne 11y ago
Don't try to turn this into an argument about racism. There is something fundamentally, deeply broken with the Greek economy: http://www.lapasserelle.com/billets/greece_GDP_growth.jpg http://www.lapasserelle.com/billets/greece_GDP_growth.jpg No-one with any sense is trying to make this about "Greeks". But there is clearly something wrong with politics and economics in Greece.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- Daishiman 11y ago
  In an economic union with no possibility of states to set their own monetary policy, there will always be a squeaky wheel. If this fact is not admitted, there is not point for Greece to be in the union.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- pessimizer 11y ago
  > There is something fundamentally, deeply broken with the Greek economy The current growth rate is a result of austerity, not a bizarre retroactive justification for it.
  - duncan_bayne 11y ago
    I think you're conflating two different issues: a) the Greek economy is currently in debt with no realistic way of repaying it in the short term, and b) Greek politicians have adopted a socialist-minded Keynesian tinkering-around-the-edges that has somehow been named 'austerity'. The root cause of a), and then the body politic adopting b), is broken economic culture: https://mises.org/library/greece%E2%80%99s-biggest-problem-its-anti-capitalist-culture https://mises.org/library/greece%E2%80%99s-biggest-problem-i... "And so it is with Greece. After already securing debt relief and effectively being allowed to default by restructuring its debts over the next fifty years at subsidized interest rates — and after actually achieving economic growth in 2014 by cutting taxes and slashing the size of its sclerotic, bloated government — this toxic Greek culture prevailed once more and elected a team of socialist die-hards to drag it back into the mire. Of course it doesn’t help that on the other side of the negotiating table is another bunch of central planners in the EU, IMF, and ECB. Nevertheless, Greece sits stuck between two central planning negotiation parties because its people have been too busy demanding goodies instead of freedom."
- seesomesense 11y ago
  "There is a difference between saying that "the Greek people are corrupt" and saying "the Greek government and tax-collection system (or other systems) are corrupt"" Really ? That corrupt Greek government and tax-collection system, who is it staffed by ? The Inuit ?
afarrell 11y ago
There is a difference between saying that "the Greek people are corrupt" and saying "the Greek government and tax-collection system (or other systems) are corrupt".

As long as people continue this Greeks are reckless good for nothings myth it is going to be hard to find solutions.

by alayne 11y ago

As long as people continue this Greeks are reckless good for nothings myth it is going to be hard to find solutions.

Not my words. Their economy is smaller than Louisiana's, their population is more than twice, and they really, really like entitlements. Sorry if this hurts feelings, but that is not a recipe for success.

alextgordon 11y ago
Yet the "solution" on offer is to keep shrinking their economy??
- duncan_bayne 11y ago
  That's a very Keynesian perspective. The Austrian (heh) school says that in fact, the tax-and-spend policies favoured by Greek voters harm the economy in a variety of ways, one of which is by encouraging malinvestment. (And I agree with them, FWIW).

duncan_bayne 11y ago

Don't try to turn this into an argument about racism. There is something fundamentally, deeply broken with the Greek economy: http://www.lapasserelle.com/billets/greece_GDP_growth.jpg http://www.lapasserelle.com/billets/greece_GDP_growth.jpg No-one with any sense is trying to make this about "Greeks". But there is clearly something wrong with politics and economics in Greece.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
Daishiman 11y ago
In an economic union with no possibility of states to set their own monetary policy, there will always be a squeaky wheel. If this fact is not admitted, there is not point for Greece to be in the union.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
pessimizer 11y ago
> There is something fundamentally, deeply broken with the Greek economy The current growth rate is a result of austerity, not a bizarre retroactive justification for it.
- duncan_bayne 11y ago
  I think you're conflating two different issues: a) the Greek economy is currently in debt with no realistic way of repaying it in the short term, and b) Greek politicians have adopted a socialist-minded Keynesian tinkering-around-the-edges that has somehow been named 'austerity'. The root cause of a), and then the body politic adopting b), is broken economic culture: https://mises.org/library/greece%E2%80%99s-biggest-problem-its-anti-capitalist-culture https://mises.org/library/greece%E2%80%99s-biggest-problem-i... "And so it is with Greece. After already securing debt relief and effectively being allowed to default by restructuring its debts over the next fifty years at subsidized interest rates — and after actually achieving economic growth in 2014 by cutting taxes and slashing the size of its sclerotic, bloated government — this toxic Greek culture prevailed once more and elected a team of socialist die-hards to drag it back into the mire. Of course it doesn’t help that on the other side of the negotiating table is another bunch of central planners in the EU, IMF, and ECB. Nevertheless, Greece sits stuck between two central planning negotiation parties because its people have been too busy demanding goodies instead of freedom."
seesomesense 11y ago
"There is a difference between saying that "the Greek people are corrupt" and saying "the Greek government and tax-collection system (or other systems) are corrupt"" Really ? That corrupt Greek government and tax-collection system, who is it staffed by ? The Inuit ?

afarrell 11y ago

There is a difference between saying that "the Greek people are corrupt" and saying "the Greek government and tax-collection system (or other systems) are corrupt".