Greece’s Economy Is a Lesson for Republicans in the U.S.

[SAYIT]

It's too late to really save Greece and while I don't blame Syriza or Tsipras or Varoufakis for the country's economic demise - that was the result of decades of overly generous gov't programs and stifling biz regulations - I do blame them for the past 5 months of strutting and preening and especially for the last 2 weeks of fiddling while Athens burned. The attached article is a brief yet complete synopsis of just how destructive the slippery slope of entitlement (socialist) programs and heavy-handed gov't regulations can be. Take note America (especially all who promote socialisms virtues while ignoring the inevitable end-game):

Tsipras rattled his sabre until it was blunt and for what Business The Guardian

 

[SwimExpert]

It's not what you think it is

Greece is a faraway country with an economy roughly the size of greater Miami, so America has very little direct stake in its ongoing disaster. To the extent that Greece matters to us, it’s mainly about geopolitics: By poisoning relations among Europe’s democracies, the Greek crisis risks depriving the United States of crucial allies.

But Greece has nonetheless played an outsized role in U.S. political debate, as a symbol of the terrible things that will supposedly happen — any day now — unless we stop helping the less fortunate and printing money to fight unemployment. And Greece does indeed offer important lessons to the rest of us. But they’re not the lessons you think, and the people most likely to deliver a Greek-style economic disaster here in America are the very people who love to use Greece as a boogeyman.

To understand the real lessons of Greece, you need to be aware of two crucial points.

Paul Krugman[/paste:font]
Macroeconomics, trade, health care, social policy and politics.

• Ending Greece’s BleedingJUL 5
• Europe’s Many Economic DisastersJUL 3
• Greece Over the BrinkJUN 29
• Hooray for ObamacareJUN 25
• Slavery’s Long ShadowJUN 22

See More »

The first is that the “We’re Greece!” crowd has a truly remarkable track record when it comes to economic forecasting: They’ve been wrong about everything, year after year, but refuse to learn from their mistakes. The people now saying that Greece offers an object lesson in the dangers of government debt, and that America is headed down the same road, are the same people who predicted soaring interest rates and runaway inflation in 2010; then, when it didn’t happen, they predicted soaring rates and runaway inflation in 2011; then, well, you get the picture.

The second is that the story you’ve heard about Greece — that it borrowed too much, and its excessive debt led to the current crisis — is seriously incomplete. Greece did indeed run up too much debt (with a lot of help from irresponsible lenders). But its debt, while high, wasn’t that high by historical standards. What turned Greek debt troubles into catastrophe was Greece’s inability, thanks to the euro, to do what countries with large debts usually do: impose fiscal austerity, yes, but offset it with easy money.

Consider Greece’s situation at the end of 2009, when its debt crisis burst into the open. At that point Greek government debt was near 130 percent of gross domestic product, which is definitely a big number. But it’s by no means unprecedented. As it happens, Greece’s debt ratio in 2009 was about the same as America’s in 1946, just after the war. And Britain’s debt ratio in 1946 was twice as high.

Today, however, Greek debt is over 170 percent of G.D.P. and still rising. Is that because Greece just kept on borrowing? Actually, no — Greek debt is up only 6 percent since 2009, although that’s partly because it received some debt relief in 2012. The main point, however, is that the ratio of debt to G.D.P. is up because G.D.P. is down by more than 20 percent. And why is GDP down? Largely because of the austerity measures Greece’s creditors forced it to impose.

Does this mean that austerity is always self-defeating? No, there are cases — for example, Canada in the 1990s — of countries that slashed their debt while maintaining growth and reducing unemployment. But if you look at how they managed this, it involved combining fiscal austerity with easy money: Canada in the ’90s drastically reduced interest rates, encouraging private spending, while allowing its currency to depreciate, encouraging exports.
Greece, unfortunately, no longer had its own currency when it was forced into drastic fiscal retrenchment. The result was an economic implosion that ended up making the debt problem even worse. Greece’s formula for disaster, in other words, didn’t just involve austerity; it involved the toxic combination of austerity with hard money.

So who wants to impose that kind of toxic policy mix on America? The answer is, most of the Republican Party.

On one side, just about everyone in the G.O.P. demands that we reduce government spending, especially aid to lower-income families. (They also, of course, want to reduce taxes on the rich — but that wouldn’t do much to boost demand for U.S. products.)

On the other side, leading Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan incessantly attack the Federal Reserve for its efforts to boost the economy, delivering solemn lectures on the evils of “debasing” the dollar — when the main difference between the effects of austerity in Canada and in Greece was precisely that Canada could “debase” its currency, while Greece couldn’t. Oh, and many Republicans hanker for a return to the gold standard, which would effectively put us into a euro-like straitjacket.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/o...-a-lesson-for-republicans-in-the-us.html?_r=0

You know the problem is that you are preaching to people (republicans) who don't even understand what socialism is. They see no difference between Norway and North Korea. They are that brainwashed. Fox News has them by the balls.

I wish the U.S. could be more like Norway but I doubt that will ever happen.

Fuck you turd and $8 gallon of gas , Go there then

Republican response: HURR DURR. Norway has strong unions and higher wages due to this, alot of people in norway use public transporation, which is a better thing then individual car ownership in my opinion, plus, norway isn't that big.

Norway has a small, hard working population with a shared culture and homogenous population.....and they are oil rich from the North Sea.....and oh yeah........they don't have to spend money on a real military...we protect them and they can spend their money on generous welfare benefits they can only afford because they don't pay for a real military....also, their people can do what they want and don't have to serve in their military because our people protect them....

Must be nice...

do you think they will be happy when Putin rolls into their country?

You're both fucking idiots.

 

[2aguy]

Oh right let's be more like Somalia. Great plan.

I'd like to see one successful country with a "small government" that worked well. Somalia?

The United States until the FDR regime is a perfect example. Of course, almost every developed country in Europe had a small government during the industrial revolution when their economies grew at rates that would be considered astounding today.

You know the reality is that current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation. Revenue as a percentage of GDP, is near the historic low.

Why is it so hard for you people to grasp how much of a failure Reagan economics are? Net job growth under Bush was pathetic despite his insane tax cuts on the wealthy. The Great Recession of 2008 happened anyway as well. Kansas is now a deficit black hole because of the latest "experiment".

If Reagan economics failed, what does that make Obama?
Obama's got one year deficits bigger than entire Reagan budgets
Obama got more people out of the workforce than the entire population of the Philippines
Obama added more debt than anyone in all of human history

Lol how typical of you to dodge the issue and bring Obama.

1) 11 million+ private jobs have been created under Obama. 3 million of those came from his stimulus package.
2) does inflation mean anything to you? the deficit has fallen dramatically under Obama. The debt has increased because of him extending Bush's tax cuts and uber defense spending. Republicans love that under republican presidents!
3) That has been declining since before Obama took office. Retirement, disability and discouragement from low wage jobs are the primary reasons. Obama tried fixing the problem by raising the minimum wage. Meanwhile, the fat cats are richer than ever before under Obama and are doing nothing to boost wages and create more jobs. Why don't you blame them?

We have the lowest labor participation rate since when...the 70s...over 93 million people who are not working and of those working more than ever before they are working 1 or more part time jobs...

and taxes slow the economy, they don't help.....and minimum wage costs jobs....

 

[bripat9643]

It's not what you think it is
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/o...-a-lesson-for-republicans-in-the-us.html?_r=0

it sure is...don't be stupid like the Greeks and don't embrace socialism...reduce the size of government and increase individual freedom....works like a charm every timeout is tried...

Oh right let's be more like Somalia. Great plan.

I'd like to see one successful country with a "small government" that worked well. Somalia?

The United States until the FDR regime is a perfect example. Of course, almost every developed country in Europe had a small government during the industrial revolution when their economies grew at rates that would be considered astounding today.

You know the reality is that current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation. Revenue as a percentage of GDP, is near the historic low.

ROFL! Just how did you determine that, but sticking your finger in the wind?

Why is it so hard for you people to grasp how much of a failure Reagan economics are? Net job growth under Bush was pathetic despite his insane tax cuts on the wealthy. The Great Recession of 2008 happened anyway as well. Kansas is now a deficit black hole because of the latest "experiment".

What does Bush have to do with Reaganomics? Bush was a tax-and-spend liberal. Regulations grew faster under the Bush administration than they did under Clinton.

 

[bripat9643]

It's not what you think it is

Greece is a faraway country with an economy roughly the size of greater Miami, so America has very little direct stake in its ongoing disaster. To the extent that Greece matters to us, it’s mainly about geopolitics: By poisoning relations among Europe’s democracies, the Greek crisis risks depriving the United States of crucial allies.

But Greece has nonetheless played an outsized role in U.S. political debate, as a symbol of the terrible things that will supposedly happen — any day now — unless we stop helping the less fortunate and printing money to fight unemployment. And Greece does indeed offer important lessons to the rest of us. But they’re not the lessons you think, and the people most likely to deliver a Greek-style economic disaster here in America are the very people who love to use Greece as a boogeyman.

To understand the real lessons of Greece, you need to be aware of two crucial points.

Paul Krugman[/paste:font]
Macroeconomics, trade, health care, social policy and politics.

• Ending Greece’s BleedingJUL 5
• Europe’s Many Economic DisastersJUL 3
• Greece Over the BrinkJUN 29
• Hooray for ObamacareJUN 25
• Slavery’s Long ShadowJUN 22

See More »

The first is that the “We’re Greece!” crowd has a truly remarkable track record when it comes to economic forecasting: They’ve been wrong about everything, year after year, but refuse to learn from their mistakes. The people now saying that Greece offers an object lesson in the dangers of government debt, and that America is headed down the same road, are the same people who predicted soaring interest rates and runaway inflation in 2010; then, when it didn’t happen, they predicted soaring rates and runaway inflation in 2011; then, well, you get the picture.

The second is that the story you’ve heard about Greece — that it borrowed too much, and its excessive debt led to the current crisis — is seriously incomplete. Greece did indeed run up too much debt (with a lot of help from irresponsible lenders). But its debt, while high, wasn’t that high by historical standards. What turned Greek debt troubles into catastrophe was Greece’s inability, thanks to the euro, to do what countries with large debts usually do: impose fiscal austerity, yes, but offset it with easy money.

Consider Greece’s situation at the end of 2009, when its debt crisis burst into the open. At that point Greek government debt was near 130 percent of gross domestic product, which is definitely a big number. But it’s by no means unprecedented. As it happens, Greece’s debt ratio in 2009 was about the same as America’s in 1946, just after the war. And Britain’s debt ratio in 1946 was twice as high.

Today, however, Greek debt is over 170 percent of G.D.P. and still rising. Is that because Greece just kept on borrowing? Actually, no — Greek debt is up only 6 percent since 2009, although that’s partly because it received some debt relief in 2012. The main point, however, is that the ratio of debt to G.D.P. is up because G.D.P. is down by more than 20 percent. And why is GDP down? Largely because of the austerity measures Greece’s creditors forced it to impose.

Does this mean that austerity is always self-defeating? No, there are cases — for example, Canada in the 1990s — of countries that slashed their debt while maintaining growth and reducing unemployment. But if you look at how they managed this, it involved combining fiscal austerity with easy money: Canada in the ’90s drastically reduced interest rates, encouraging private spending, while allowing its currency to depreciate, encouraging exports.
Greece, unfortunately, no longer had its own currency when it was forced into drastic fiscal retrenchment. The result was an economic implosion that ended up making the debt problem even worse. Greece’s formula for disaster, in other words, didn’t just involve austerity; it involved the toxic combination of austerity with hard money.

So who wants to impose that kind of toxic policy mix on America? The answer is, most of the Republican Party.

On one side, just about everyone in the G.O.P. demands that we reduce government spending, especially aid to lower-income families. (They also, of course, want to reduce taxes on the rich — but that wouldn’t do much to boost demand for U.S. products.)

On the other side, leading Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan incessantly attack the Federal Reserve for its efforts to boost the economy, delivering solemn lectures on the evils of “debasing” the dollar — when the main difference between the effects of austerity in Canada and in Greece was precisely that Canada could “debase” its currency, while Greece couldn’t. Oh, and many Republicans hanker for a return to the gold standard, which would effectively put us into a euro-like straitjacket.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/o...-a-lesson-for-republicans-in-the-us.html?_r=0

You can't reason with the Faux News brainwashed crowd, they said bye bye to reality long ago and now for them up is down, wrong is right.

Republicans have run huge deficits and caused the U.S. debt to rise to its current levels, but they reject this reality in favor of 'feel good rhetoric' from Faux and Dimbaugh. The Republicans have done their best the last 30 years to run America's economy into a ditch. The Democrats, when elected, always have to clean up the mess.

Republicans get an F in economics.

Clinton's surplus, which didn't actually exist, was totally the result of the peace dividend that allowed him to cut the military every year. You can thank Reagan for that.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

It's not what you think it is
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/o...-a-lesson-for-republicans-in-the-us.html?_r=0

it sure is...don't be stupid like the Greeks and don't embrace socialism...reduce the size of government and increase individual freedom....works like a charm every timeout is tried...

Oh right let's be more like Somalia. Great plan.

I'd like to see one successful country with a "small government" that worked well. Somalia?

The United States until the FDR regime is a perfect example. Of course, almost every developed country in Europe had a small government during the industrial revolution when their economies grew at rates that would be considered astounding today.

You know the reality is that current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation. Revenue as a percentage of GDP, is near the historic low.

Why is it so hard for you people to grasp how much of a failure Reagan economics are? Net job growth under Bush was pathetic despite his insane tax cuts on the wealthy. The Great Recession of 2008 happened anyway as well. Kansas is now a deficit black hole because of the latest "experiment".

current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation

Hilarious!

Net job growth under Bush was pathetic despite his insane tax cuts on the wealthy.

When you get a chance, spell out these insane tax cuts on the wealthy.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

It's not what you think it is

Greece is a faraway country with an economy roughly the size of greater Miami, so America has very little direct stake in its ongoing disaster. To the extent that Greece matters to us, it’s mainly about geopolitics: By poisoning relations among Europe’s democracies, the Greek crisis risks depriving the United States of crucial allies.

But Greece has nonetheless played an outsized role in U.S. political debate, as a symbol of the terrible things that will supposedly happen — any day now — unless we stop helping the less fortunate and printing money to fight unemployment. And Greece does indeed offer important lessons to the rest of us. But they’re not the lessons you think, and the people most likely to deliver a Greek-style economic disaster here in America are the very people who love to use Greece as a boogeyman.

To understand the real lessons of Greece, you need to be aware of two crucial points.

Paul Krugman[/paste:font]
Macroeconomics, trade, health care, social policy and politics.

• Ending Greece’s BleedingJUL 5
• Europe’s Many Economic DisastersJUL 3
• Greece Over the BrinkJUN 29
• Hooray for ObamacareJUN 25
• Slavery’s Long ShadowJUN 22

See More »

The first is that the “We’re Greece!” crowd has a truly remarkable track record when it comes to economic forecasting: They’ve been wrong about everything, year after year, but refuse to learn from their mistakes. The people now saying that Greece offers an object lesson in the dangers of government debt, and that America is headed down the same road, are the same people who predicted soaring interest rates and runaway inflation in 2010; then, when it didn’t happen, they predicted soaring rates and runaway inflation in 2011; then, well, you get the picture.

The second is that the story you’ve heard about Greece — that it borrowed too much, and its excessive debt led to the current crisis — is seriously incomplete. Greece did indeed run up too much debt (with a lot of help from irresponsible lenders). But its debt, while high, wasn’t that high by historical standards. What turned Greek debt troubles into catastrophe was Greece’s inability, thanks to the euro, to do what countries with large debts usually do: impose fiscal austerity, yes, but offset it with easy money.

Consider Greece’s situation at the end of 2009, when its debt crisis burst into the open. At that point Greek government debt was near 130 percent of gross domestic product, which is definitely a big number. But it’s by no means unprecedented. As it happens, Greece’s debt ratio in 2009 was about the same as America’s in 1946, just after the war. And Britain’s debt ratio in 1946 was twice as high.

Today, however, Greek debt is over 170 percent of G.D.P. and still rising. Is that because Greece just kept on borrowing? Actually, no — Greek debt is up only 6 percent since 2009, although that’s partly because it received some debt relief in 2012. The main point, however, is that the ratio of debt to G.D.P. is up because G.D.P. is down by more than 20 percent. And why is GDP down? Largely because of the austerity measures Greece’s creditors forced it to impose.

Does this mean that austerity is always self-defeating? No, there are cases — for example, Canada in the 1990s — of countries that slashed their debt while maintaining growth and reducing unemployment. But if you look at how they managed this, it involved combining fiscal austerity with easy money: Canada in the ’90s drastically reduced interest rates, encouraging private spending, while allowing its currency to depreciate, encouraging exports.
Greece, unfortunately, no longer had its own currency when it was forced into drastic fiscal retrenchment. The result was an economic implosion that ended up making the debt problem even worse. Greece’s formula for disaster, in other words, didn’t just involve austerity; it involved the toxic combination of austerity with hard money.

So who wants to impose that kind of toxic policy mix on America? The answer is, most of the Republican Party.

On one side, just about everyone in the G.O.P. demands that we reduce government spending, especially aid to lower-income families. (They also, of course, want to reduce taxes on the rich — but that wouldn’t do much to boost demand for U.S. products.)

On the other side, leading Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan incessantly attack the Federal Reserve for its efforts to boost the economy, delivering solemn lectures on the evils of “debasing” the dollar — when the main difference between the effects of austerity in Canada and in Greece was precisely that Canada could “debase” its currency, while Greece couldn’t. Oh, and many Republicans hanker for a return to the gold standard, which would effectively put us into a euro-like straitjacket.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/o...-a-lesson-for-republicans-in-the-us.html?_r=0

You can't reason with the Faux News brainwashed crowd, they said bye bye to reality long ago and now for them up is down, wrong is right.

Republicans have run huge deficits and caused the U.S. debt to rise to its current levels, but they reject this reality in favor of 'feel good rhetoric' from Faux and Dimbaugh. The Republicans have done their best the last 30 years to run America's economy into a ditch. The Democrats, when elected, always have to clean up the mess.

Republicans get an F in economics.

The internet bubble sent a lot of revenue to the government.
What did Clinton do to make that possible?

 

[IsaacNewton]

it sure is...don't be stupid like the Greeks and don't embrace socialism...reduce the size of government and increase individual freedom....works like a charm every timeout is tried...

Oh right let's be more like Somalia. Great plan.

I'd like to see one successful country with a "small government" that worked well. Somalia?

The United States until the FDR regime is a perfect example. Of course, almost every developed country in Europe had a small government during the industrial revolution when their economies grew at rates that would be considered astounding today.

You know the reality is that current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation. Revenue as a percentage of GDP, is near the historic low.

Why is it so hard for you people to grasp how much of a failure Reagan economics are? Net job growth under Bush was pathetic despite his insane tax cuts on the wealthy. The Great Recession of 2008 happened anyway as well. Kansas is now a deficit black hole because of the latest "experiment".

If Reagan economics failed, what does that make Obama?
Obama's got one year deficits bigger than entire Reagan budgets
Obama got more people out of the workforce than the entire population of the Philippines
Obama added more debt than anyone in all of human history

You are such a partisan hack.

Bush left his successor a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit, which President Obama has brought down every year he's been in office, now at 480 billion dollars. The deficits the U.S. has had the last 6 years are directly attributable to Shrub, as is the Great Recession. All that debt is thanks to the Republicans.

I know reality isn't your strong suit and you don't understand deficits and debt, but lying to soothe your psyche isn't going to cut it among people that know facts. Try the Faux News forum instead where ignorance is a requirement.

 

[IsaacNewton]

It's not what you think it is

Greece is a faraway country with an economy roughly the size of greater Miami, so America has very little direct stake in its ongoing disaster. To the extent that Greece matters to us, it’s mainly about geopolitics: By poisoning relations among Europe’s democracies, the Greek crisis risks depriving the United States of crucial allies.

But Greece has nonetheless played an outsized role in U.S. political debate, as a symbol of the terrible things that will supposedly happen — any day now — unless we stop helping the less fortunate and printing money to fight unemployment. And Greece does indeed offer important lessons to the rest of us. But they’re not the lessons you think, and the people most likely to deliver a Greek-style economic disaster here in America are the very people who love to use Greece as a boogeyman.

To understand the real lessons of Greece, you need to be aware of two crucial points.

Paul Krugman[/paste:font]
Macroeconomics, trade, health care, social policy and politics.

• Ending Greece’s BleedingJUL 5
• Europe’s Many Economic DisastersJUL 3
• Greece Over the BrinkJUN 29
• Hooray for ObamacareJUN 25
• Slavery’s Long ShadowJUN 22

See More »

The first is that the “We’re Greece!” crowd has a truly remarkable track record when it comes to economic forecasting: They’ve been wrong about everything, year after year, but refuse to learn from their mistakes. The people now saying that Greece offers an object lesson in the dangers of government debt, and that America is headed down the same road, are the same people who predicted soaring interest rates and runaway inflation in 2010; then, when it didn’t happen, they predicted soaring rates and runaway inflation in 2011; then, well, you get the picture.

The second is that the story you’ve heard about Greece — that it borrowed too much, and its excessive debt led to the current crisis — is seriously incomplete. Greece did indeed run up too much debt (with a lot of help from irresponsible lenders). But its debt, while high, wasn’t that high by historical standards. What turned Greek debt troubles into catastrophe was Greece’s inability, thanks to the euro, to do what countries with large debts usually do: impose fiscal austerity, yes, but offset it with easy money.

Consider Greece’s situation at the end of 2009, when its debt crisis burst into the open. At that point Greek government debt was near 130 percent of gross domestic product, which is definitely a big number. But it’s by no means unprecedented. As it happens, Greece’s debt ratio in 2009 was about the same as America’s in 1946, just after the war. And Britain’s debt ratio in 1946 was twice as high.

Today, however, Greek debt is over 170 percent of G.D.P. and still rising. Is that because Greece just kept on borrowing? Actually, no — Greek debt is up only 6 percent since 2009, although that’s partly because it received some debt relief in 2012. The main point, however, is that the ratio of debt to G.D.P. is up because G.D.P. is down by more than 20 percent. And why is GDP down? Largely because of the austerity measures Greece’s creditors forced it to impose.

Does this mean that austerity is always self-defeating? No, there are cases — for example, Canada in the 1990s — of countries that slashed their debt while maintaining growth and reducing unemployment. But if you look at how they managed this, it involved combining fiscal austerity with easy money: Canada in the ’90s drastically reduced interest rates, encouraging private spending, while allowing its currency to depreciate, encouraging exports.
Greece, unfortunately, no longer had its own currency when it was forced into drastic fiscal retrenchment. The result was an economic implosion that ended up making the debt problem even worse. Greece’s formula for disaster, in other words, didn’t just involve austerity; it involved the toxic combination of austerity with hard money.

So who wants to impose that kind of toxic policy mix on America? The answer is, most of the Republican Party.

On one side, just about everyone in the G.O.P. demands that we reduce government spending, especially aid to lower-income families. (They also, of course, want to reduce taxes on the rich — but that wouldn’t do much to boost demand for U.S. products.)

On the other side, leading Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan incessantly attack the Federal Reserve for its efforts to boost the economy, delivering solemn lectures on the evils of “debasing” the dollar — when the main difference between the effects of austerity in Canada and in Greece was precisely that Canada could “debase” its currency, while Greece couldn’t. Oh, and many Republicans hanker for a return to the gold standard, which would effectively put us into a euro-like straitjacket.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/o...-a-lesson-for-republicans-in-the-us.html?_r=0

Paul Krugman is an idiot who knows nothing about economics.

Right, you who posts to internet message boards, you are who Wall Street goes to for advice.

LOL These jokes write themselves.

 

[IsaacNewton]

I'd like to see one successful country with a "small government" that worked well. Somalia?

The United States until the FDR regime is a perfect example. Of course, almost every developed country in Europe had a small government during the industrial revolution when their economies grew at rates that would be considered astounding today.

You know the reality is that current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation. Revenue as a percentage of GDP, is near the historic low.

Why is it so hard for you people to grasp how much of a failure Reagan economics are? Net job growth under Bush was pathetic despite his insane tax cuts on the wealthy. The Great Recession of 2008 happened anyway as well. Kansas is now a deficit black hole because of the latest "experiment".

If Reagan economics failed, what does that make Obama?
Obama's got one year deficits bigger than entire Reagan budgets
Obama got more people out of the workforce than the entire population of the Philippines
Obama added more debt than anyone in all of human history

Lol how typical of you to dodge the issue and bring Obama.

1) 11 million+ private jobs have been created under Obama. 3 million of those came from his stimulus package.
2) does inflation mean anything to you? the deficit has fallen dramatically under Obama. The debt has increased because of him extending Bush's tax cuts and uber defense spending. Republicans love that under republican presidents!
3) That has been declining since before Obama took office. Retirement, disability and discouragement from low wage jobs are the primary reasons. Obama tried fixing the problem by raising the minimum wage. Meanwhile, the fat cats are richer than ever before under Obama and are doing nothing to boost wages and create more jobs. Why don't you blame them?

We have the lowest labor participation rate since when...the 70s...over 93 million people who are not working and of those working more than ever before they are working 1 or more part time jobs...

and taxes slow the economy, they don't help.....and minimum wage costs jobs....

David Koch, is that you? Rupert Murdoch? You guys still trying to brainwash the unwashed conservative masses?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Oh right let's be more like Somalia. Great plan.

I'd like to see one successful country with a "small government" that worked well. Somalia?

The United States until the FDR regime is a perfect example. Of course, almost every developed country in Europe had a small government during the industrial revolution when their economies grew at rates that would be considered astounding today.

You know the reality is that current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation. Revenue as a percentage of GDP, is near the historic low.

Why is it so hard for you people to grasp how much of a failure Reagan economics are? Net job growth under Bush was pathetic despite his insane tax cuts on the wealthy. The Great Recession of 2008 happened anyway as well. Kansas is now a deficit black hole because of the latest "experiment".

If Reagan economics failed, what does that make Obama?
Obama's got one year deficits bigger than entire Reagan budgets
Obama got more people out of the workforce than the entire population of the Philippines
Obama added more debt than anyone in all of human history

You are such a partisan hack.

Bush left his successor a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit, which President Obama has brought down every year he's been in office, now at 480 billion dollars. The deficits the U.S. has had the last 6 years are directly attributable to Shrub, as is the Great Recession. All that debt is thanks to the Republicans.

I know reality isn't your strong suit and you don't understand deficits and debt, but lying to soothe your psyche isn't going to cut it among people that know facts. Try the Faux News forum instead where ignorance is a requirement.

What crap.

Obama started with a Failed Shovel Ready Stimulus Program that swelled the budget, wait did I say budget, Democrats stopped passing budgets in favor of "Continuing resolution", Boehner, who is a fucking traitor continued the tradition, so Obama step a new higher baseline from which to pile up his historic, never seen in all of human history debt and deficits

Oh, and fuck you Sock Boy

 

[bripat9643]

It's not what you think it is

Greece is a faraway country with an economy roughly the size of greater Miami, so America has very little direct stake in its ongoing disaster. To the extent that Greece matters to us, it’s mainly about geopolitics: By poisoning relations among Europe’s democracies, the Greek crisis risks depriving the United States of crucial allies.

But Greece has nonetheless played an outsized role in U.S. political debate, as a symbol of the terrible things that will supposedly happen — any day now — unless we stop helping the less fortunate and printing money to fight unemployment. And Greece does indeed offer important lessons to the rest of us. But they’re not the lessons you think, and the people most likely to deliver a Greek-style economic disaster here in America are the very people who love to use Greece as a boogeyman.

To understand the real lessons of Greece, you need to be aware of two crucial points.

Paul Krugman[/paste:font]
Macroeconomics, trade, health care, social policy and politics.

• Ending Greece’s BleedingJUL 5
• Europe’s Many Economic DisastersJUL 3
• Greece Over the BrinkJUN 29
• Hooray for ObamacareJUN 25
• Slavery’s Long ShadowJUN 22

See More »

The first is that the “We’re Greece!” crowd has a truly remarkable track record when it comes to economic forecasting: They’ve been wrong about everything, year after year, but refuse to learn from their mistakes. The people now saying that Greece offers an object lesson in the dangers of government debt, and that America is headed down the same road, are the same people who predicted soaring interest rates and runaway inflation in 2010; then, when it didn’t happen, they predicted soaring rates and runaway inflation in 2011; then, well, you get the picture.

The second is that the story you’ve heard about Greece — that it borrowed too much, and its excessive debt led to the current crisis — is seriously incomplete. Greece did indeed run up too much debt (with a lot of help from irresponsible lenders). But its debt, while high, wasn’t that high by historical standards. What turned Greek debt troubles into catastrophe was Greece’s inability, thanks to the euro, to do what countries with large debts usually do: impose fiscal austerity, yes, but offset it with easy money.

Consider Greece’s situation at the end of 2009, when its debt crisis burst into the open. At that point Greek government debt was near 130 percent of gross domestic product, which is definitely a big number. But it’s by no means unprecedented. As it happens, Greece’s debt ratio in 2009 was about the same as America’s in 1946, just after the war. And Britain’s debt ratio in 1946 was twice as high.

Today, however, Greek debt is over 170 percent of G.D.P. and still rising. Is that because Greece just kept on borrowing? Actually, no — Greek debt is up only 6 percent since 2009, although that’s partly because it received some debt relief in 2012. The main point, however, is that the ratio of debt to G.D.P. is up because G.D.P. is down by more than 20 percent. And why is GDP down? Largely because of the austerity measures Greece’s creditors forced it to impose.

Does this mean that austerity is always self-defeating? No, there are cases — for example, Canada in the 1990s — of countries that slashed their debt while maintaining growth and reducing unemployment. But if you look at how they managed this, it involved combining fiscal austerity with easy money: Canada in the ’90s drastically reduced interest rates, encouraging private spending, while allowing its currency to depreciate, encouraging exports.
Greece, unfortunately, no longer had its own currency when it was forced into drastic fiscal retrenchment. The result was an economic implosion that ended up making the debt problem even worse. Greece’s formula for disaster, in other words, didn’t just involve austerity; it involved the toxic combination of austerity with hard money.

So who wants to impose that kind of toxic policy mix on America? The answer is, most of the Republican Party.

On one side, just about everyone in the G.O.P. demands that we reduce government spending, especially aid to lower-income families. (They also, of course, want to reduce taxes on the rich — but that wouldn’t do much to boost demand for U.S. products.)

On the other side, leading Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan incessantly attack the Federal Reserve for its efforts to boost the economy, delivering solemn lectures on the evils of “debasing” the dollar — when the main difference between the effects of austerity in Canada and in Greece was precisely that Canada could “debase” its currency, while Greece couldn’t. Oh, and many Republicans hanker for a return to the gold standard, which would effectively put us into a euro-like straitjacket.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/o...-a-lesson-for-republicans-in-the-us.html?_r=0

Paul Krugman is an idiot who knows nothing about economics.

Right, you who posts to internet message boards, you are who Wall Street goes to for advice.

LOL These jokes write themselves.

You're just a lying hosebag. The deficit was $700 in 2008. The deficit was $1.8 trillion in 2009. Don't claim Obama doesn't deserve the blame for that because he got his so-called "stimulus" jammed through only a month or after he was inaugurated. The 2009 budget is his.

 

[2aguy]

Oh right let's be more like Somalia. Great plan.

I'd like to see one successful country with a "small government" that worked well. Somalia?

The United States until the FDR regime is a perfect example. Of course, almost every developed country in Europe had a small government during the industrial revolution when their economies grew at rates that would be considered astounding today.

You know the reality is that current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation. Revenue as a percentage of GDP, is near the historic low.

Why is it so hard for you people to grasp how much of a failure Reagan economics are? Net job growth under Bush was pathetic despite his insane tax cuts on the wealthy. The Great Recession of 2008 happened anyway as well. Kansas is now a deficit black hole because of the latest "experiment".

If Reagan economics failed, what does that make Obama?
Obama's got one year deficits bigger than entire Reagan budgets
Obama got more people out of the workforce than the entire population of the Philippines
Obama added more debt than anyone in all of human history

You are such a partisan hack.

Bush left his successor a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit, which President Obama has brought down every year he's been in office, now at 480 billion dollars. The deficits the U.S. has had the last 6 years are directly attributable to Shrub, as is the Great Recession. All that debt is thanks to the Republicans.

I know reality isn't your strong suit and you don't understand deficits and debt, but lying to soothe your psyche isn't going to cut it among people that know facts. Try the Faux News forum instead where ignorance is a requirement.

And spent us into 18 trillion dollars of debt....spending more than all of the other Presidents combined.....

 

[2aguy]

It's not what you think it is

Greece is a faraway country with an economy roughly the size of greater Miami, so America has very little direct stake in its ongoing disaster. To the extent that Greece matters to us, it’s mainly about geopolitics: By poisoning relations among Europe’s democracies, the Greek crisis risks depriving the United States of crucial allies.

But Greece has nonetheless played an outsized role in U.S. political debate, as a symbol of the terrible things that will supposedly happen — any day now — unless we stop helping the less fortunate and printing money to fight unemployment. And Greece does indeed offer important lessons to the rest of us. But they’re not the lessons you think, and the people most likely to deliver a Greek-style economic disaster here in America are the very people who love to use Greece as a boogeyman.

To understand the real lessons of Greece, you need to be aware of two crucial points.

Paul Krugman[/paste:font]
Macroeconomics, trade, health care, social policy and politics.

• Ending Greece’s BleedingJUL 5
• Europe’s Many Economic DisastersJUL 3
• Greece Over the BrinkJUN 29
• Hooray for ObamacareJUN 25
• Slavery’s Long ShadowJUN 22

See More »

The first is that the “We’re Greece!” crowd has a truly remarkable track record when it comes to economic forecasting: They’ve been wrong about everything, year after year, but refuse to learn from their mistakes. The people now saying that Greece offers an object lesson in the dangers of government debt, and that America is headed down the same road, are the same people who predicted soaring interest rates and runaway inflation in 2010; then, when it didn’t happen, they predicted soaring rates and runaway inflation in 2011; then, well, you get the picture.

The second is that the story you’ve heard about Greece — that it borrowed too much, and its excessive debt led to the current crisis — is seriously incomplete. Greece did indeed run up too much debt (with a lot of help from irresponsible lenders). But its debt, while high, wasn’t that high by historical standards. What turned Greek debt troubles into catastrophe was Greece’s inability, thanks to the euro, to do what countries with large debts usually do: impose fiscal austerity, yes, but offset it with easy money.

Consider Greece’s situation at the end of 2009, when its debt crisis burst into the open. At that point Greek government debt was near 130 percent of gross domestic product, which is definitely a big number. But it’s by no means unprecedented. As it happens, Greece’s debt ratio in 2009 was about the same as America’s in 1946, just after the war. And Britain’s debt ratio in 1946 was twice as high.

Today, however, Greek debt is over 170 percent of G.D.P. and still rising. Is that because Greece just kept on borrowing? Actually, no — Greek debt is up only 6 percent since 2009, although that’s partly because it received some debt relief in 2012. The main point, however, is that the ratio of debt to G.D.P. is up because G.D.P. is down by more than 20 percent. And why is GDP down? Largely because of the austerity measures Greece’s creditors forced it to impose.

Does this mean that austerity is always self-defeating? No, there are cases — for example, Canada in the 1990s — of countries that slashed their debt while maintaining growth and reducing unemployment. But if you look at how they managed this, it involved combining fiscal austerity with easy money: Canada in the ’90s drastically reduced interest rates, encouraging private spending, while allowing its currency to depreciate, encouraging exports.
Greece, unfortunately, no longer had its own currency when it was forced into drastic fiscal retrenchment. The result was an economic implosion that ended up making the debt problem even worse. Greece’s formula for disaster, in other words, didn’t just involve austerity; it involved the toxic combination of austerity with hard money.

So who wants to impose that kind of toxic policy mix on America? The answer is, most of the Republican Party.

On one side, just about everyone in the G.O.P. demands that we reduce government spending, especially aid to lower-income families. (They also, of course, want to reduce taxes on the rich — but that wouldn’t do much to boost demand for U.S. products.)

On the other side, leading Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan incessantly attack the Federal Reserve for its efforts to boost the economy, delivering solemn lectures on the evils of “debasing” the dollar — when the main difference between the effects of austerity in Canada and in Greece was precisely that Canada could “debase” its currency, while Greece couldn’t. Oh, and many Republicans hanker for a return to the gold standard, which would effectively put us into a euro-like straitjacket.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/o...-a-lesson-for-republicans-in-the-us.html?_r=0

You can't reason with the Faux News brainwashed crowd, they said bye bye to reality long ago and now for them up is down, wrong is right.

Republicans have run huge deficits and caused the U.S. debt to rise to its current levels, but they reject this reality in favor of 'feel good rhetoric' from Faux and Dimbaugh. The Republicans have done their best the last 30 years to run America's economy into a ditch. The Democrats, when elected, always have to clean up the mess.

Republicans get an F in economics.

Clinton's surplus, which didn't actually exist, was totally the result of the peace dividend that allowed him to cut the military every year. You can thank Reagan for that.

And clinton took 8 years and tax increases to finally end Reagan's economic growth.....

 

[IsaacNewton]

I'd like to see one successful country with a "small government" that worked well. Somalia?

The United States until the FDR regime is a perfect example. Of course, almost every developed country in Europe had a small government during the industrial revolution when their economies grew at rates that would be considered astounding today.

You know the reality is that current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation. Revenue as a percentage of GDP, is near the historic low.

Why is it so hard for you people to grasp how much of a failure Reagan economics are? Net job growth under Bush was pathetic despite his insane tax cuts on the wealthy. The Great Recession of 2008 happened anyway as well. Kansas is now a deficit black hole because of the latest "experiment".

If Reagan economics failed, what does that make Obama?
Obama's got one year deficits bigger than entire Reagan budgets
Obama got more people out of the workforce than the entire population of the Philippines
Obama added more debt than anyone in all of human history

You are such a partisan hack.

Bush left his successor a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit, which President Obama has brought down every year he's been in office, now at 480 billion dollars. The deficits the U.S. has had the last 6 years are directly attributable to Shrub, as is the Great Recession. All that debt is thanks to the Republicans.

I know reality isn't your strong suit and you don't understand deficits and debt, but lying to soothe your psyche isn't going to cut it among people that know facts. Try the Faux News forum instead where ignorance is a requirement.

What crap.

Obama started with a Failed Shovel Ready Stimulus Program that swelled the budget, wait did I say budget, Democrats stopped passing budgets in favor of "Continuing resolution", Boehner, who is a fucking traitor continued the tradition, so Obama step a new higher baseline from which to pile up his historic, never seen in all of human history debt and deficits

Oh, and fuck you Sock Boy

Economics eludes you as your fantasy world trumps reality.

Bush and the Republicans have brought ruin to the economy and the national debt for 30 years. Bush and the people that voted for him brought this debt on the entire country.

And of course cons want to blame someone else as you never take personal responsibility for your actions.

 

[2aguy]

Do you lefty statists realize that the only reason clinton had prosperity was that he lost the house to Republicans 2 years into his administration...and they forced him to fix the budget........

 

[IsaacNewton]

It's not what you think it is

Greece is a faraway country with an economy roughly the size of greater Miami, so America has very little direct stake in its ongoing disaster. To the extent that Greece matters to us, it’s mainly about geopolitics: By poisoning relations among Europe’s democracies, the Greek crisis risks depriving the United States of crucial allies.

But Greece has nonetheless played an outsized role in U.S. political debate, as a symbol of the terrible things that will supposedly happen — any day now — unless we stop helping the less fortunate and printing money to fight unemployment. And Greece does indeed offer important lessons to the rest of us. But they’re not the lessons you think, and the people most likely to deliver a Greek-style economic disaster here in America are the very people who love to use Greece as a boogeyman.

To understand the real lessons of Greece, you need to be aware of two crucial points.

Paul Krugman[/paste:font]
Macroeconomics, trade, health care, social policy and politics.

• Ending Greece’s BleedingJUL 5
• Europe’s Many Economic DisastersJUL 3
• Greece Over the BrinkJUN 29
• Hooray for ObamacareJUN 25
• Slavery’s Long ShadowJUN 22

See More »

The first is that the “We’re Greece!” crowd has a truly remarkable track record when it comes to economic forecasting: They’ve been wrong about everything, year after year, but refuse to learn from their mistakes. The people now saying that Greece offers an object lesson in the dangers of government debt, and that America is headed down the same road, are the same people who predicted soaring interest rates and runaway inflation in 2010; then, when it didn’t happen, they predicted soaring rates and runaway inflation in 2011; then, well, you get the picture.

The second is that the story you’ve heard about Greece — that it borrowed too much, and its excessive debt led to the current crisis — is seriously incomplete. Greece did indeed run up too much debt (with a lot of help from irresponsible lenders). But its debt, while high, wasn’t that high by historical standards. What turned Greek debt troubles into catastrophe was Greece’s inability, thanks to the euro, to do what countries with large debts usually do: impose fiscal austerity, yes, but offset it with easy money.

Consider Greece’s situation at the end of 2009, when its debt crisis burst into the open. At that point Greek government debt was near 130 percent of gross domestic product, which is definitely a big number. But it’s by no means unprecedented. As it happens, Greece’s debt ratio in 2009 was about the same as America’s in 1946, just after the war. And Britain’s debt ratio in 1946 was twice as high.

Today, however, Greek debt is over 170 percent of G.D.P. and still rising. Is that because Greece just kept on borrowing? Actually, no — Greek debt is up only 6 percent since 2009, although that’s partly because it received some debt relief in 2012. The main point, however, is that the ratio of debt to G.D.P. is up because G.D.P. is down by more than 20 percent. And why is GDP down? Largely because of the austerity measures Greece’s creditors forced it to impose.

Does this mean that austerity is always self-defeating? No, there are cases — for example, Canada in the 1990s — of countries that slashed their debt while maintaining growth and reducing unemployment. But if you look at how they managed this, it involved combining fiscal austerity with easy money: Canada in the ’90s drastically reduced interest rates, encouraging private spending, while allowing its currency to depreciate, encouraging exports.
Greece, unfortunately, no longer had its own currency when it was forced into drastic fiscal retrenchment. The result was an economic implosion that ended up making the debt problem even worse. Greece’s formula for disaster, in other words, didn’t just involve austerity; it involved the toxic combination of austerity with hard money.

So who wants to impose that kind of toxic policy mix on America? The answer is, most of the Republican Party.

On one side, just about everyone in the G.O.P. demands that we reduce government spending, especially aid to lower-income families. (They also, of course, want to reduce taxes on the rich — but that wouldn’t do much to boost demand for U.S. products.)

On the other side, leading Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan incessantly attack the Federal Reserve for its efforts to boost the economy, delivering solemn lectures on the evils of “debasing” the dollar — when the main difference between the effects of austerity in Canada and in Greece was precisely that Canada could “debase” its currency, while Greece couldn’t. Oh, and many Republicans hanker for a return to the gold standard, which would effectively put us into a euro-like straitjacket.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/o...-a-lesson-for-republicans-in-the-us.html?_r=0

You can't reason with the Faux News brainwashed crowd, they said bye bye to reality long ago and now for them up is down, wrong is right.

Republicans have run huge deficits and caused the U.S. debt to rise to its current levels, but they reject this reality in favor of 'feel good rhetoric' from Faux and Dimbaugh. The Republicans have done their best the last 30 years to run America's economy into a ditch. The Democrats, when elected, always have to clean up the mess.

Republicans get an F in economics.

Clinton's surplus, which didn't actually exist, was totally the result of the peace dividend that allowed him to cut the military every year. You can thank Reagan for that.

And clinton took 8 years and tax increases to finally end Reagan's economic growth.....

Yes we can see the Raygun debt legacy. He increased the national debt by 300%. A true 'con-servative'.

I'm sorry you can't square this circle and it kills you. Republican's don't know economics and have given us 18 trillion dollars of debt. How about you cons take personal responsibility for a change and pay your debts rather than blaming someone else and asking for a handout.

 

[Billy000]

I'd like to see one successful country with a "small government" that worked well. Somalia?

The United States until the FDR regime is a perfect example. Of course, almost every developed country in Europe had a small government during the industrial revolution when their economies grew at rates that would be considered astounding today.

You know the reality is that current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation. Revenue as a percentage of GDP, is near the historic low.

Why is it so hard for you people to grasp how much of a failure Reagan economics are? Net job growth under Bush was pathetic despite his insane tax cuts on the wealthy. The Great Recession of 2008 happened anyway as well. Kansas is now a deficit black hole because of the latest "experiment".

If Reagan economics failed, what does that make Obama?
Obama's got one year deficits bigger than entire Reagan budgets
Obama got more people out of the workforce than the entire population of the Philippines
Obama added more debt than anyone in all of human history

Lol how typical of you to dodge the issue and bring Obama.

1) 11 million+ private jobs have been created under Obama. 3 million of those came from his stimulus package.
2) does inflation mean anything to you? the deficit has fallen dramatically under Obama. The debt has increased because of him extending Bush's tax cuts and uber defense spending. Republicans love that under republican presidents!
3) That has been declining since before Obama took office. Retirement, disability and discouragement from low wage jobs are the primary reasons. Obama tried fixing the problem by raising the minimum wage. Meanwhile, the fat cats are richer than ever before under Obama and are doing nothing to boost wages and create more jobs. Why don't you blame them?

Nope. O has a net gain of 4.8 million.....not 11 million. You didn't count the jobs lost.

Yeah and those were lost to the recession he inherited.

 

[Billy000]

It's not what you think it is

Greece is a faraway country with an economy roughly the size of greater Miami, so America has very little direct stake in its ongoing disaster. To the extent that Greece matters to us, it’s mainly about geopolitics: By poisoning relations among Europe’s democracies, the Greek crisis risks depriving the United States of crucial allies.

But Greece has nonetheless played an outsized role in U.S. political debate, as a symbol of the terrible things that will supposedly happen — any day now — unless we stop helping the less fortunate and printing money to fight unemployment. And Greece does indeed offer important lessons to the rest of us. But they’re not the lessons you think, and the people most likely to deliver a Greek-style economic disaster here in America are the very people who love to use Greece as a boogeyman.

To understand the real lessons of Greece, you need to be aware of two crucial points.

Paul Krugman[/paste:font]
Macroeconomics, trade, health care, social policy and politics.

• Ending Greece’s BleedingJUL 5
• Europe’s Many Economic DisastersJUL 3
• Greece Over the BrinkJUN 29
• Hooray for ObamacareJUN 25
• Slavery’s Long ShadowJUN 22

See More »

The first is that the “We’re Greece!” crowd has a truly remarkable track record when it comes to economic forecasting: They’ve been wrong about everything, year after year, but refuse to learn from their mistakes. The people now saying that Greece offers an object lesson in the dangers of government debt, and that America is headed down the same road, are the same people who predicted soaring interest rates and runaway inflation in 2010; then, when it didn’t happen, they predicted soaring rates and runaway inflation in 2011; then, well, you get the picture.

The second is that the story you’ve heard about Greece — that it borrowed too much, and its excessive debt led to the current crisis — is seriously incomplete. Greece did indeed run up too much debt (with a lot of help from irresponsible lenders). But its debt, while high, wasn’t that high by historical standards. What turned Greek debt troubles into catastrophe was Greece’s inability, thanks to the euro, to do what countries with large debts usually do: impose fiscal austerity, yes, but offset it with easy money.

Consider Greece’s situation at the end of 2009, when its debt crisis burst into the open. At that point Greek government debt was near 130 percent of gross domestic product, which is definitely a big number. But it’s by no means unprecedented. As it happens, Greece’s debt ratio in 2009 was about the same as America’s in 1946, just after the war. And Britain’s debt ratio in 1946 was twice as high.

Today, however, Greek debt is over 170 percent of G.D.P. and still rising. Is that because Greece just kept on borrowing? Actually, no — Greek debt is up only 6 percent since 2009, although that’s partly because it received some debt relief in 2012. The main point, however, is that the ratio of debt to G.D.P. is up because G.D.P. is down by more than 20 percent. And why is GDP down? Largely because of the austerity measures Greece’s creditors forced it to impose.

Does this mean that austerity is always self-defeating? No, there are cases — for example, Canada in the 1990s — of countries that slashed their debt while maintaining growth and reducing unemployment. But if you look at how they managed this, it involved combining fiscal austerity with easy money: Canada in the ’90s drastically reduced interest rates, encouraging private spending, while allowing its currency to depreciate, encouraging exports.
Greece, unfortunately, no longer had its own currency when it was forced into drastic fiscal retrenchment. The result was an economic implosion that ended up making the debt problem even worse. Greece’s formula for disaster, in other words, didn’t just involve austerity; it involved the toxic combination of austerity with hard money.

So who wants to impose that kind of toxic policy mix on America? The answer is, most of the Republican Party.

On one side, just about everyone in the G.O.P. demands that we reduce government spending, especially aid to lower-income families. (They also, of course, want to reduce taxes on the rich — but that wouldn’t do much to boost demand for U.S. products.)

On the other side, leading Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan incessantly attack the Federal Reserve for its efforts to boost the economy, delivering solemn lectures on the evils of “debasing” the dollar — when the main difference between the effects of austerity in Canada and in Greece was precisely that Canada could “debase” its currency, while Greece couldn’t. Oh, and many Republicans hanker for a return to the gold standard, which would effectively put us into a euro-like straitjacket.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/o...-a-lesson-for-republicans-in-the-us.html?_r=0

Paul Krugman is an idiot who knows nothing about economics.

Oh really? A Nobel prize winner in economics knows nothing about it? Your ignorance is astounding.

 

[Billy000]

You know the reality is that current government regulations in this country do very little to hinder job creation.

Now that is the kind of monumentally ignorant statement that gives all socialists a bad name in America. Here's a clue: there are way more hurdles to business expansion (job creation) than just federal regs and taxes ... way.

Go ahead and check the BLS statistics. You'll see regulations have very little to do with it.