Quote:And how would more gov't spending be paid for? More debt. Surely you don't think the entire national debt can be paid off with tax hikes (?). And by openly pining for currency devaluation, you can no longer keep up the masquerade of being a crusader for the poor.
More government spending could be paid for with tax hikes. I never said anything about paying off the entire national debt. I prefer raising taxes to currency devaluation, but I prefer currency devaluation to massive austerity measures which hurts the poor FAR worse.
Quote:You must be the first person in the world to call the EU policies "conservative." BTW, currency devaluation sure worked wonders for Belarus last year.
It is conservative. Taking away a country's tool to manage its debt and economy so that it has a constricted money supply and will be forced to make cuts is basically what Ron Paul wants to do with the gold standard.
Hyperinflation is a possibility if you're not smart about it. It has to be measured and accompanied by tax hikes and maybe even cuts. I'm not saying Greece should have just ran the printing press in one day to cover the entire debt because that would cause a panic and runaway inflation. Measured inflation though is healthy--today's dollar is worth 5 cents in 1910 dollars, and I think it's fair to say we've had a strong century over that period.
Quote:What, in your opinion, is causing the problems in Greece?
The worldwide recession for one, and the fact tourism and shipping are major industries in Greece and those industries were particularly hit hard by the recession. And corruption. Greek officials were hiding the real debt numbers and paying off Goldman Sachs to do it for political reasons. So when the correct numbers were revealed it hit them like an avalanche. The best response is to balance currency devaluation with raising tax rates. You cut spending last if you really have to because it has the most sudden and immediate impact on demand.
Quote:Well, you're already taxing their source of income when it is earned by the donors, why not tax it again!?!?!?
Money being taxed twice? Oh noes! As if that's' not happening already on every purchase you make. I'd let them deduct for their charity work (money spent actually helping the poor), but everything they do doesn't deserve tax exemption.
Quote:Except that these guys (Rob, Max, Atlantic) apparently think that even when the unmitigated disaster comes, like it has in Greece, you should STILL keep borrowing and spending.
Because the unmitigated disaster isn't happening in a vacuum. In Greece's case it was caused by the recession (caused by American banks) and that recession will come to an end so long as they don't #### it up. Borrowing and spending buys them more time until the economy picks up again and the tourism and shipping come back to normal levels, and then tax revenue will grow naturally. In the meantime a little currency devaluation to hit the people holding the cash (by and large the rich, though of course it hurts the poor too) buys precious time so that later on you can address deficit reduction with an economy that isn't fragile and you can raise tax rates in without growth taking such a hit.
If Greece defaults it can drag the world economy back into a recession, which isn't good for anybody. If Greece makes austerity cuts like they have, they kill their own economy (shrank by 8% last year) and tax revenues along with it (unemployment is soaring), and when the world economy recovers they're lagging far behind and need to rebuild.
Quote:Really? Obama and his team promised "pass my stimulus and unemployment won't go over 8.5 percent" and you give him a pass but expect me yo give you hard numbers on a Bulletin board conversation..
Everybody was underestimating the depth of the recession at the time; Obama was as "woefully inept" as everyone else.
Quote:Not cutting spending is like believing you'll get out of debt by charging more because it means a higher Cash Back bonus.
Because an individual and world economic superpower are the same thing, essentially. The goal shouldn't be to get out of debt, especially when the interest you're paying isn't substantially outpacing inflation, and when that money can be put to more productive use.