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a corbyn suggestion of merit?

Amongst Jeremy Corbyn's economic lunatic asylum is a suggestion with possible political merit.

"Corbyn – the anti-austerity candidate in a field that also includes
Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall – has campaigned on a
radical economic agenda, proposing a so-called “People’s QE”, allowing
the Bank of England to print money which would be used for investment
in public services such as large-scale housing developments, energy
and transport.

It is essential that Chancellor George Osborne et al work to cure the housing 'shortage' with a mass government attack on housing shortage. Without such a policy, the Conservative Party will become vulnerable.

I do not think Corbyn comprehends the difference between quantitative easing and printing money.

Money printing is merely a hidden form of taxation that takes money from the poor and those on fixed incomes.
Quantitative easing is a specific inflationary bail-out for insolvent banks.

A housing market shortage is an unearned bonanza for the middle classes. Correcting the problem is not something that the middle classes will cheer.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/economics072015.php#corbyn-economic-good-240815

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neat little article on the euro and greece

"...Unworkable and unreformable, the euro can only produce recurrent and worsening crises. But this can go on for only so long. The euro will break down through a process of political contagion, as resurgent nationalism and radical parties of opposition become stronger throughout Europe. The driving force of the currency's disintegration will be a mood of popular anger. Attempting to maintain the euro at any cost can only result in mounting desperation, which will seek expression in violence if no practicable policies are on offer to ameliorate the situation."

With some credible notes on game theory.

related material EMU (European Monetary Union) and inflation – a civil liberty issue on Greece :: you can smell the fear in the eussr
eussr greek farce continues - is the eussr in meltdown?
on eussr barbarism relative to the greek chaos
crackpots in brussels and a greek collapse

on game theory:: A useful site for recent work, using simple games structures to gain understanding of behaviour, can be found at http://www.iew.unizh.ch/home/fehr
See also commentary in feedback and crowding.If you are new to the game theory approach, for a fine, clear, simple introduction see The Evolution of Cooperation.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/economics072015.php#euro-greece-190815

you can smell the fear in the eussr

Linked, an article in The Spectator that is missing most of the realité, but is expressing much of the Euro spin.

If the ECB does not act fast and forcibly, it could generate a run on the euro, let alone on the banks. Spain, Italy, even France, and many others are vulnerable. If the deposits of Greek citizens are not backed, the euro will be entirely naked.

There is no way someone can be 'kicked out' of the euro. Greece, or any other country, could easily trade in euros.

It is the height of irresponsibility to such broadcast nonsense, that "Greece can be kicked out of the euro", in the midst of this mess.

Inflation is a gift that just keeps on giving, to real private wealth.

Thomas Piketty [a French economist] is perfectly correct on the following:: "When I hear the Germans say that they maintain a very moral stance about debt and strongly believe that debts must be repaid, then I think: what a huge joke! Germany is the country that has never repaid its debts. It has no standing to lecture other nations."
Piketty has also said:: "A new European institution would be required to determine the maximum allowable budget deficit in order to prevent the regrowth of debt. For example, this could be a commmittee in the European Parliament consisting of legislators from national parliaments..."
The euro already has such requirements. Everyone has ignored them from the first day, so here he is talking utter rot. The euro, in its present form, is completely unsustainable. It is impossible to rescue it in the current structures and circumstances without ignoring democratic processes. The present structure also gives an incentive to breakdown and debt. It is essential to grasp the fact.
What a strange fellow is the Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis. He actually understands the Euro-mess, yet he calls himself a Marxist, and he means it. This is very unusual, a socialist with intelligence. He appears to be what Keynes, and myself, regard as a catastrophist. Such men can be very dangerous. From the puff on his next book, And The Weak Suffer What They Must?: Europe's Crisis and America's Economic Future, 5 January, 2016. (Note the date!): "The fate of the global economy hangs in the balance, and Europe is doing its utmost to undermine it, to destabilize America, and to spawn new forms of authoritarianism. Europe has dragged the world into hideous morasses twice in the last one hundred years… it can do it again. Yanis Varoufakis, the newly elected Finance Minister of Greece, has a front-row seat, and shows the Eurozone to be a house of cards destined to fall without a radical change in direction. And, if the European Union falls apart, he argues, the global economy will not be far behind.

Varoufakis shows how, once America abandoned Europe in 1971 from the dollar zone, Europe’s leaders decided to create a monetary union of 18 nations without control of their own money, without democratic accountability, and without a government to support the Central Bank. This bizarre economic super-power was equipped with none of the shock absorbers necessary to contain a financial crisis, while its design ensured that, when it came, the crisis would be massive..."
And then the dubious stuff starts! I do wonder what Varoufakis is at - it is a ploy of socialists to destroy democratic governments by destroying their currency. Keynes:: "Lenin was right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
[The Economic Consequences of the Peace,1919, ch. 6]
The objective of Marxists/Socialists is to so disrupt society that they can take over. The loony euro must stand as a monumental modern example of self-inflicted mayhem, and still the Eurocrats are trying to spin their way out of it!

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/economics072015.php#greek-referendum-fallout-060715

greek debt and reality

"[T]he EU itself has suffered a reputational catastrophe on several fronts"

"An odd spectacle to watch a central bank with a treaty duty to uphold financial stability take the deliberate decision to precipitate the collapse of banks that it regulates. But the deeper point is that the insane construction of the euro - a naked currency union without fiscal and political foundations - must inevitably tend to authoritarian monetary dystopia in the end."

Precisely put!

"We can already see that the EU itself has suffered a reputational catastrophe on several fronts. This is of far greater importance in the sweep of events than daily twists and turns in Athens

"It has brought about a state of affairs where a member of its own eurozone family has become the first developed country in history to default to the IMF.

"Let us be clear what this means. The currency union itself is delinquent. The rich countries of northern Europe are refusing to pay African, Asian and Latin American states. Blaming it on Greece alone does not wash.

"The eurozone has shown itself unable to manage its basic moral responsibilities..."

An excellent article, recommended reading.

reality gradually raises its ugly head

"It should worry people that Puerto Rico’s governor just announced his U.S. territory cannot pay its debts. And that, as Britain’s Telegraph recently noted, the entire eurozone’s debt exceeded 90 per cent of its GDP in 2014. Six nations were above 100 per cent, including Italy and Greece, with Spain and France over 90 per cent. And while the 1992 Maastricht Treaty creating the EU and euro committed signatories not to exceed 60 per cent, even stolid Germany hit 74.7 per cent in 2014. So there is widespread make-believe over the fact of ignoring rules, as well as its predictable consequences.

"Greece’s creditors are panicked that a Grexit and default might have a direct domino effect of driving Italy into insolvency, and an indirect one of making further eurozone departures thinkable. They should instead be worried that citizens, via their governments, are living chronically beyond their means, from Athens to Berlin to London to Washington to Ottawa, and still believe fairy tales about escaping the long-term consequences by taking in one another’s subsidies.

"Unreality isn’t just a Greek thing."

And here is a little list!

Country	Government Debt to GDP	Reference date	Country	Government Debt to GDP	Reference date
Australia	28.60	Dec/13	Japan	230.00	Dec/14
Brazil	58.91	Dec/14	Mexico	30.70	Dec/14
Canada	86.51	Dec/14	Netherlands	68.80	Dec/14
China	22.40	Dec/13	Russia	17.92	Dec/14
Euro Area	91.90	Dec/14	South Korea	33.80	Dec/13
France	95.00	Dec/14	Spain	97.70	Dec/14
Greece	197.41	Jun/15	Switzerland	34.20	Dec/14
Germany	74.70	Dec/14	Turkey	33.00	Dec/14
India	67.72	Dec/13	United Kingdom	89.40	Dec/14
Indonesia	25.02	Dec/14	United States	101.53	Dec/13
Italy	132.10	Dec/14

Determining the creditors of any country's national debt is a mare's nest. A lot of the debt is owed to their own citizens, often through pension funds.

The various nations also have no intention of repaying their debts. They steadily erode it through inflation. It is really mostly delayed taxation, delayed to the next generation, or on the road to when current cirizens need it for their pension.

National debts are also mediated through the banks, which are these days mostly an arm of government.

Debt becomes a worse problem when it's not in a nation's own currency, the position in which Greece is in now. It's also the position of weaker and more backward countries, a delight for those Lefties saying how badly 'we' exploit the third world poor.

debt, work and leisure

A central fact of money is that it circulates, not much use to Germany if they cannot sell their cars and keep their Victorian-work-ethic embibed people 'employed' by building them. As I repeat regularly, there is less and less work to go around. The Greeks like to lie on the beach and serve rather disgusting drinks, but then so do the Spanish.

Given the choice, most people will choose 'leisure' over 'work'. Clearly, governments do not want citizens out causing a nuisance shuffling against 'austerity', especially when they start smashing the place up. Governments also do not seem to want them to go on 'adventure holidays' where they can rape and kill, made more interesting by dropping the occasional bomb on those Middle Eastern 'holiday' spots.

Society is a playground. Most of what humans agonise over just is not very serious or 'important'. If a person starts attending to reality, they might get bored, or even do something useful. The place works the way it does because that is the way that things work!

Pragmatism.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/economics072015.php#greek-debt-reality-030715

on eussr barbarism relative to the greek chaos

"...food purchases having fallen by 28.5 per cent. Pensioners, now the bread-winners in many households (pensions are now the main – and often only – source of income for almost half of Greek families), have seen a 61 per cent fall in their pension payments."
—
"But Greek pensions are no longer so generous. On top of the cut to monthly payments, the standard retirement age for men is being lifted to 67, one of the highest in Europe. Almost half of pensioners live on less than the poverty line of €665 per month. Food poverty is worsening people’s health. The stillbirth rate is up by 21 per cent and infant mortality rose by 40 per cent between 2008 and 2011. TB rates have doubled. HIV infection is up. Malaria has re-emerged after nearly half a century."
—
"As is now clear to all, this Troika-imposed economic vandalism has not even succeeded in its stated aims. Greece’s debts are up by 50 per cent since 2010 while the economy has shrunk by a quarter. Greece has dutifully cut the public sector, reformed pensions, and they now raise more tax as a percentage of GDP than previously. But due to the economic programme imposed on Greece the economy has shrunk so much that the nominal tax take has actually gone down."
And more.

So much for the stream of lies emanating from Brussels.

Note that the author's the reference to Weimar is based on ignorance, see this section on reparations.
Neither are references to a new currency clearly based, the euro structure is an incredible mess. Reforming that is not some real world impossibility, though the ambitions of politicians make that somewhat unlikely.

With the present structure, this mess will not stop at Greece.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/economics072015.php#eussr-barbarism-010715

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