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Lazy Greeks At Fault?? These Two Charts Suggest Otherwise!
Submitted by Thad Beversdorf via First Rebuttal blog,
Well things are gonna change in Europe. Greece just voted in a majority no bullshit government. These guys appear to be unimpressed by titles and focused on facts, as is discussed by Yanis Varoufakis, tipped to be Greece’s next Finance Minister, during an interview with UK’s Channel 4 News. They seem to see things as right or wrong regardless of who’s mouth it’s coming from, which is great. Now there is no such thing as a perfect politician and these fellas are left of left with a heavy socialist slant. I obviously see no possibility of socialist ideology rebuilding a nation from the brink of bankruptcy. That said, if this new government is loyal to the cause rather than the ideology, their integrity will get the job done.
But what is it that needs to get done in Greece? That’s really the $64K question. On the surface it seems as though Greece is simply a bunch of lazy sponges. But I caution you to look at the facts before making a final judgement. Remember Greece was once upon a time the genesis of democracy. These people have been doing democracy longer than any other nation on earth. And so I have a hard time accepting all of sudden after thousands of years they simply got too lazy to carry on the pride of the people who created the concept of a self-governed and free populace. I just don’t buy it. Let’s look deeper.
I was studying international economics in Oxford in 1999 and so was very keen on watching the debates surrounding the implementation of the Euro. I remember even at the time there was tremendous controversy about what covenants were going to be placed on individual nations to ensure they all carried their own weight. The difficulty with such a system is that you have very different industry strengths among the nation states and so to force a uniform set covenants seems to be heading toward disaster. For instance look at the balance sheets of raw materials companies vs biotech firms. If you forced all industries to have a uniform set of financial metrics it would end in disaster for some sectors while working well for other sectors. The same is true on a macroeconomic level. But don’t take my word for it.
Let’s see if we can find anything to support our theory that perhaps the uniform set of covenants and the other policies surrounding the Euro benefitted some nations but were damaging to others. If it’s true then we must not be so harsh and quick to apply blame to the citizens of Greece. We must also then be open to solutions that will contradict the status quo given the status quo brought us to this point.
So what we need to do is look at the economic performance of various nations before and after taking on the Euro. The following chart depicts the economic performance, using total industry production cumulative growth as our indicator, of various EU nations for the 10 years leading up to the Euro implementation.
We can see that Spain was doing exceptionally well with Greece and Italy slightly behind and then Germany and France bringing up the rear. However, do note that all nations had similar trends (positive) during that 10 period.
Now let’s take a look at the relative performance of these same nations in the decade subsequent to the implementation of the Euro. Certainly the Euro is not the only variable on economic performance but remember most economic shocks have the same impact on all economies. That is, they are either positive or negative shocks to all economies. But our theory suggests that the Euro will be good for some countries while damaging to others. And so we are looking for a dislocation between relative performance. Let’s see what we find.
Very interesting. It appears that while Germany was actually second to the bottom of economic growth through the 10 years leading up to the Euro, subsequent to implementation of the Euro German economic growth exploded. That’s great, except that the four other comparative nations performed very poorly upon taking on the Euro. And so as the theory predicted we do have a significant dislocation in the performance of individual nations. This lends credence to the theory that the Euro was a positive stimulus to some nations but a negative shock to other nations. It means that the Euro itself and its respective policies may very well be the destructive force as opposed to a weakness of character of the southern nations.
What we need to take from this is that because some nations like Germany are doing well while others are not doesn’t mean the Germans are just better citizens or workers. It may very well mean the Euro and its respective policies created an advantage for the Germans and a disadvantage for the Greeks. This shouldn’t surprise us as here in America we have the very same problem.
The only difference being the US has two luxuries Greece, Spain, Italy and France do not have, namely the world reserve currency and the ability to print money. If the US had the same constraints we too would be defaulting on debt with negative economic growth. That is an absolute and indisputable fact. If you need to check on that proposition, read my past 4 articles and you will have no remaining doubts.
Now I’m not negating all responsibility from the Greeks themselves. What I’m saying is let’s look further into the facts given the above charts provide support that the Euro itself or perhaps its policies are the problem. Let’s understand what dynamics resulted in the current situation. Let’s understand all of the options that are available to Greece and not just the desired options suitable to the Lords of the ECB and the Oligarchs.
There is a new sheriff in town and he seems to have the right mindset. Let’s give him a chance to do the right things. My hope is his objective will be for a prosperous nation rather than proving some ideological point of socialism vs capitalism. A prosperous working class, guaranteed individual rights and freedom, these should be the end game.
So to pull this all together, my point is to show that what you think you know about the Greek situation is likely not the real issue as shown in the charts above. Therefore we need to be open to understanding what the issues are, what the options are and nailing down a final solution to the devastation. Know that we will be inundated with propaganda telling us how this new government is going to ruin all of Europe and perhaps the world. The ECB will work with banks and opposition to intentionally make things worse while blaming the new government for failing in an attempt to create unrest amongst the people. These are the things our current Western leaders do to get their way. We saw it in Northern Africa and we see it in Ukraine. It is a sad fact of life that the world must currently endure. But let’s be strong and at least give this new Greek government a chance to live up to the standards they have set for themselves. If they fail so be it. But let’s not kill all hope before hope has a chance to blossom into prosperity.
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It doesn't matter how hard the citizens work. The more resources the government steals from the private sector, the worse your economy will do. It has nothing to do with the citizenry.
Borrowing from the future to pay for the present is always a bad idea.
Bankers sell other people's future everyday, it must be easy when you have no morals, no compassion, no empathy and an empty soul.
And a complicit government that grants you corporate personhood, and issues a monopoly currency, and sets interest rates.....
Banks aren't the problem. Government tainted markets are the problem.
Agreed, but its easier for me to socially ostracize a person rather than a corporation to effect change.
Agreed, but the corporation wouldn't exist without government regulation, so start by ostracizing your government officials!
it can't be both corporations and immoral govern-ers?
"The more resources the government steals from the private sector, the worse your economy will do."
Obligatory socialist/Statist response: MUH ROADS!!!
Most of what's going on here is the ECB trying to bully and punish Greece to prevent a PIIGS revolt that has been simmering for awhile. If they don't bring them to heal quickly other countries on the edge will start to revolt themselves. They think they can control the situation but like the Greek citizens, the little people are getting tired of being stomped and any politician who wants to keep their job will have to tread lightly for fear of overthrow. After the revolution things will be different, not better, just different.
The leader of the Independent Greek seems like a real deal.
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2014/4144_greece_silk_rd.html
It matters a lot how productive citizens are.
One way to explain the charts above (which the authors don't consider, perhaps revealing their bias) is: when Greece and Spain entered the Euro, their former currencies (and hence wages from that point onward) were pegged much too high. Workers got a windfall raise at the Euro-join, but it also made their industry uncompetitive and set it on a path of stagnation.
The Euro is just a scapegoat in all of this. The failure is political. Some countries don't have the political character or will to live in a hard currency regime, and any effort to try will end badly.
It's ironic that socialists free-spenders and money printers are usually vilified on ZH, except when they are leftists in southern Europe, in which case they are heroes !! Greece will soon be back to permanent hyperinflation which is their natural state.
Precisely.
I can remember being in Spain on business a few years before the Euro discussing these issues with the locals. It got a little heated with one gent there. He objected to the analysis I offered on local wages, prices relative to productivity levels and the massive fiscal transfers already underway from Brussels to Spain.
Finally I said: "using German money won't make you folks Germans".
The charts in this article should be Exhibit A in every introductory statistics course when the professor says, "Correlation is not causation."
There was a Greek national in my section in business school.. presumably one of the best and brightest the country had to offer. The guy was able to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide when breathing, but that was about the extent of his contributions. Washed out after the first year.
So, you've met one Greek.
Of course that means that all Greeks are the same.
Just think, if an alien met you, they'd think all humans were mentally retarded.
Any population of even minimal size lacks homogeneity, but congrats on the strawman you've stitched together.
And guilty as charged on mental retardation, as it's perhaps my dysfunctional amygdalae that prevent me from feeling any sympathy whatsoever for a population that, as a whole, has exhibited corruption and laziness off the charts by Western standards.
What I believe to be truly, clinically retarded, however, is all the Greek apologists casting Greeks as victims who are righteous in their path to a repudiation of their obligations. Lot to be learned from the Irish...
The author also conveniently ignors the fact that Germany underwent major labor reforms reducing union power (the right to fire unproductive workers, for example) in the transition period while Greece become more unionized and central government and its worthless lazy beurocrats) grew by leaps and bounds. These are the controlling variables, competition,the profit motive, economic freedom and minimal central planning, not the incident correlated variable, the common currency, responsible for relative economic performance. And surely no sane person who has ever interacted with state beauocracy can deny these parasitic slugs are lazy. Just visit your local DMV to refresh your memory, or try interacting with the IRS or Homeland Security.
And author, remind me, does Greece have an auto industrial, a chemical industry, electronics industry, machine tools industry etc. Can they even grow enough food to feed themselves? No! There's a quality reason for the reason people buy Bosch tools, BMW cars, Bayer chemicals even if it requires a currency premium. Greece has always specialized in tourism and shipping. The former was hurt by the adoption of the Euro which made prices less competitive vis a vis the tourists from Germany etc. and the latter by the ongoing world wide recession. It needs the drachma to force it to quit sponging off the productive Northern Europeans.
And if you needed any other example of why a currencie's strength is a effect not a cause of economic productivity look no further than Switzerland with its uberstrong currency. Its still an economic juggarnaut due to the productivity, creativity and relative economic (and gun) freedom of the Swiss people.
Greece would never have been able to run up the kind of debt it has if the bonds were denominated in drachmas. They need to adjust to a lower standard of living, or become more productive.
I think their future curency will be the dr000,000,000chma.
"more productive"
Kinda like us guys??
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-21/billionaire-greene-goes-long-on...
Possibly because Germany got their workers to go along with suppressing their wages at the outset? Either way, the result of their neoliberal policies: millions of German workers living in poverty http://www.dw.de/millions-of-german-workers-in-poverty/a-18212765
I think the situation here is that the majority of the states who joined the EU were not on equal competitive footing as countries like Germany or the other scandanavian states part of the EU.
Germany's grand plan was to have these less competitive states become more competitive on their own, but as the data shows Germany stole growth at the expense of these less competitive states.
In a normal Union like in the USA you have balance of transfers from the stonger states to the less stronger states so that there is consistency in standard of living across the board.
Either the stronger nations are going to have to forgive debts and help these weaker nations become more productive economically or kick them out or disolve the EU.
Since the Eurozone is more of a political project, I think Greece has a good chance of getting some of the financial burdens forgiven since it's better for Europe in the long run.
If you really want to blame someone, blame the bankers who are just trying to gut the country of any type of wealth they have and foot the Greek people with a big bill regardless.
The EU established impossible standards of labor, employment, manufacturing, quality, recycling, etc. that only the huge German corporations could navigate or bypass at will. That's why Germany prospered. The same thing is happening in the U.S. Every new page of Federal regulations crushes the small employers to the benefit of the huge corporations.
Nothing to do with China then?
Counterpoint being that without the chinese government, the chinese people would be MORE well off.
The Greeks are not lazy - they work VERY hard at figuring out how to avoid paying any taxes!
My nephew is a CPA. He has built a 30 year career on figuring out how to avoid paying taxes. He works about 60 hours a week. Maybe he is Greek. I'll ask my brother.
Real American Heros
Probably the most productive thing they can be doing to fight the raping they're currently undergoing at the hand of Brussels. After they exit the Euro, then the most productive thing they can do is rebuild their country and lifestyle.
If you want to know why Greece is where they are at, I suggest you read this article from 5 years ago:
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds...
Goldman is appropriately mentioned in the intro.
They "advise" all over the world. When you hear of their involvement, you know it is going to be a fist fuck / bag man scenario.
Rich gotta blame someone but themselves...
Frank Zappa - Trouble Every Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girnJH7tvpM
At an international level, the middle classes of countries are divided by stereotypes which the mouthpieces of the new doctrine build. Recent examples are the characteristics that are given to the peoples of the eurozone periphery, such as lazy, PIGS, etc., while in southern Europe, the perception that Germany continues to benefit from the crisis becomes quite popular. All these crude generalities which are spreading by the mouthpieces of the new doctrine, are aiming to prevent a possible dynamic mass mobilization of the middle class across Europe, which could be crusial for the termination of policies that the new doctrine promotes.
It is simple. Before Euro there was competition and free market. After euro there is centrally planned economy and market.
Greeks themselves didn't even receive the loans in question, see the final half an hour of this talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQuHSQXxsjM
I don't think it's "laziness" more or less. While I can see the "Greeks are lazy fucks!" argument, I think it has more to do with how warm climates discourage saving and thus cause stagnant economic growth.
To build an economy, you have to save. Saving provides the ability to create capital and further increase your wealth. If you live in a climate where winter is a thing, you are pretty much compelled to save so you can survive the cold months. But if you live in a climate where winters are very mild or in the tropics where seasons pretty much don't exist, there is zero incentive to save. That means there is less capital being created as people live more day-to-day than living for the long-term.
It would explain why countries that are in the tropics or the equator have horrible economies and countries in temperate/higher latitudes have well-developed economies.
Que the eskimo financialists!! Get to Greece stat and show them how its done!
Now we know who the Rothchilds and Rockefellers answer to! Scary shit, that . . . long whale blubber ice cream!
A.K.A. Sun People / Ice People
And also explains the very different IQs of northern (high) vs southern (e.g. African) people. Its the evolution selection of cognitive ability not the melanine in the skin, though both are correlated with the controlling variable, seasonal temperature variation due to the amount of sunlight reaching the earth as a function of latitude (i.e. harsh Northern winters make you innovate or die)
Name the last time anyone here bought anything made in Greece. Nuff said.
You can't survive being an occasional tourist destination with good olive oil. Greece makes nothing the world wants. Yet they have ridiculous entitlements they can't afford.
I don't view Greece as a victim.... unless you count being a victim of their own stupidity.
Your name may or may not be some kind of a beer reference. But we know you arte knocking doen 3 to 4 bottles of Ouzo a day.
"You can't survive being an occasional tourist destination with good olive oil."
Yes you can, but not if you overspend your budget by more than 10% every single year. Greeks have been drowning themselves in debt every year and only adding more gas to the fire. As a Euro member, they cant print their way Argentina style to a balance and they cant pay the interest only on the pile of debt they have.
They will have to:
Balance their budget.
Default on their debt.
Leave the Euro so they can print their way to Socialist/Marxist/Keynesian heaven.
Find someone to borrow from.
Find someone to steal from.
Knowing it will be weasel dick politians, and lefties at that, making the choice, what is the easy path?
I predict Greece will be testing the resolve of Germany to keep the Euro together.
If Greece had the control of the world's reserve currency and the big printing press, I think they might be saying about Americans what the Americans are now saying about Greece.
Or thinking logically as you suggest you do, if they had a Boeing, Apple, Microsoft, Dow Chemical, Monsanto, Cargill etc and the scientific and technological know how of say, the Swiss, (Nestle, Novartis, Roche etc), they wouldn't be in the situation they are in now. Yeah, they came up with geometry and the concept of atoms 2 millenia ago, but what have they done lately?
So, does control of the reserve currency come from productivity and control of the majority of the world's GDP (see Britain before us) or the other way around, Mr. LogicalMan? Whats the independent variable, always an important thing to identify when trying to understand cause and effect and not confuse the two or impute causation when mere correlation is more appropiate.
Just bought some Hellenic tahini yesterday.
What's your argument? That Greece doesn't export anything of worth, to anyone worthy? Au contrare mon ami...
http://www.worldsrichestcountries.com/top_greece_exports.html
actually
Given the craphole that democracy has turned out to be, I'd say you are damning them with faint praise.
The Author is absolutely correct.
It's not Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Siemens, Bosch, Porsche, Volkswagen, dozens of world-class Mittlestand machine tool and engineering firms, a world-class fine chemicals industry, relatively clean government, public efficiency and order, tax-paying citizenry and autobahns that separate Germany from Greece.
It's the differential impact of the Euro.
Greeks = "bend over"
"It is simple. Before Euro there was competition and free market."
You can just say that sovereign nations could print their own currencies, if thats the idea you want to convey. Calling it a free market conflates it with the Hayek/Friedman/Chicago school notion of a heavily deregulated economy, which the economies of Europe were not in the period prior to joining the EU.
Modern western Europe was economically bootstrapped into being via a massively state-sponsored-spending campaign called the Marshall plan. Pretty much the antithesis of free market economics. Prior to that the economies were nationalized for years on a war footing. So its really hard to say if anything in recent European economic history would qualify as a 'free market'.
That's because Germany got flooded with cheap 'reunification' Euros: Workers paying part of their salary to pay for the reunification even after that was paid for. That flooded the German banks with money they loaned to whomever wanted to borrow. Not only came that back with interest but also functioned as an export subsidy and pushed competition out of the market. And when trouble came around the German banks were bailed out by the Troika. The reunification of Germany was the best thing that happened to the country but probably the worst thing for the rest of the continent.
Europe wide imposed austerity pushed by Germany has now boomeranged. People are not spending. On top of that the sanctions against Russia which also backfires. Deflation on the rise.
these two graphs is an excelet example when you force several countries to adobt single currency and open up their borders for free trade - THE MOST COMPETITIVE ONE WINS and THE REST LOSE
Of course the Euro is the problem. Everyone knows this by now.
Most of us here in Greece work 7 days a week, 12-15 hours a day for 7-8 months of the year. I'm open all year round but have shorter hours for the winter. I pay all taxes but dont make enough to employ more help due to the taxes called ECA for employees.
What we need to take from this is that because some nations like Germany are doing well while others are not doesn’t mean the Germans are just better citizens or workers....I disagree..Germans are better workers and do work hard.....Not all peoples are the same...and Socialism does not work...especially like a currency....Greece overspent when they could..and now they do not want to pay....typical Greeks...but make them pay...they really have no economy...the shipping was taken over by the Chinese and the Middle East....olive oil...and tourists...and good greek salads do not put the population to work...and everyone works for the government...guaranteed income...and a big pension...
Gee, nice chart. To bad it's totally bogus. Remember that Greece was faking its economic data in the run up to the intro of the Euro so it could meet the conditions to join. Looks like Spain and Italy had the fluffer hard at work too.
ALL governments' figures are bogus and made up to keep governments in place.
FIFY
All countries were cooking books in the runup to Euro. Germany wanted it's CB to revalue gold reserves higher, then count it as income to get around deficit rules. Maastricht stated you can sell gold to pay down debt but not to fudge deficit numbers. https://ces.fas.harvard.edu/files/working_papers/PSGE_WP8_6.pdf
i agree with the author's sentiments and
presentation. then there is this .....
.
here a tune that came to mind, unfortunately.
Randy Newman - It's Money That I Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRYg2mvT_Ow
.
Yanis Varoufakis: Why I am running for election in Greece on the SYRIZA ticket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbxZB6HYY8k
.
When Germany tagged the Euro, the Mark was valued to give Germany an exchange rate advantage because they were pulling the strings.
When Greece adopted the Euro they had no chance of an accurate valuation because GoldenSax cooked the books.
A deliberate policy of mismanagament, they knew what the end game would be but they pushed too hard and too far.
If the old German Mark was still being used, imports from Germany would be so expensive they would have followed the rest of the PIIGS +France into the toilet.
I hope Syriza fucks them good and hard.
How can Syriza fuck Germany without fucking Greece at the same time?
1) Default on the Euro.
2) Go back to OWN (Previously the Drachma was controlled by Rothchilds and other Cronies) Drachma
3) EXECUTE and then take to Court all Politicians entangled in this crime and all Banksters
4) Ask Germany for the UNPAID WAR REPARATIONS and UNPAID Forced Loan of 1942.
5) Close Borders for the Local Currency
6) Get out of the EU
7) Lease Suda Bay Base to Russians, for Oil and GAS
8) Arm all the Citizens for Defence.
9) Declare that Citizens that do not participate in a democratic process will serve as lowly paid government workers.
10) Bribery and theft of State property will be punished by confiscating all their property and be sent to EXILE.
Sorry for the Long list, but I am sure there are others.
Issue a gold Drachma via TVM-LSM-666.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/khudes/Twitter1.15.15.pdf
https://s3.amazonaws.com/khudes/BILATERAL.pdf
https://s3.amazonaws.com/khudes/breakthrough.pdf
https://s3.amazonaws.com/khudes/mboard3.pdf
Nice thesis except for an inconvenient fact, Germany's largest trading partner is China and they run a surplus with them too! Even the Chinese don't want to buy crappy Chinese tools, so they pay up front like I do when I buy Bosch tools, so I don't have to replace them every year! A good circular saw or milling machine can easily last you 20-40 years as can a BMW-also wildly popular in China! Most Chinese (and Europeans too) also prefer pure chemicals from BASF to the kind of crap produced in China where bribery and coruption as as oriental as Budda.
Greek government/society is far more corrupt, deceitful, unscrupulous, thieving and parasitic than lazy.
are you singleing out one nation/people?
Greeks are top performers in western Europe.
some refer to it as the periphery of
western europe.
fraudulent induction of debt does not
constitute "money" or "risk management"
as the current exemplars of finance would
like you to believe. davos scum rising ...
goldman loyd b. says 2015 is even more
promising than 2014.
.
Randy Newman - It's Money That I Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRYg2mvT_Ow
.
Frank Zappa - Trouble Every Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girnJH7tvpM
.
oh, well.
Has anyone on here been to Portugal lately and say 15/20 years ago? Struth Ruth talk about decay. While the fat PIG that is J.M. Barroso lorded it from the pulpit of Brussels the STENCH he left behind in Portugal is shameful.
This CUNT let in the Troika wolves and let them run riot with the Chinese coming late to pick off the carcass.
Remember Potemkin in Ireland where they sealed off 30 square miles to let Barry & Merkel & Cameron saunter around doing selfies whilst painting over shops that used to sell some of the finest produce in the world.
Greece is NOT ALONE. Europe is a TOILET BOWL bar some wealthy Ghettos.
FUCK THE EU.
"More than they wanted freedom, the Athenians wanted security. Yet they lost everything—security, comfort, and freedom. This was because they wanted not to give to society, but for society to give to them. The freedom they were seeking was freedom from responsibility. It is no wonder, then, that they ceased to be free. In the modern world, we should recall the Athenians' dire fate whenever we confront demands for increased state paternalism."
-Margaret Thatcher
I’ve posted here before on Greek scenario;
Post WW2 Greek Government is subsidized by Britain and U.S. as bulwark against Communism. This leads to a certain mindset of politicians handing out favors.
Soviet Union falls, Euro comes into being
Greece prints sovereign bonds and hands them to German/French/British banks to create Credit Euros. These banks are commercial private banks
Note: This fails a cardinal rule in economics. Never let your debt point outside of your legal system
Credit Euros are spent into Greek Economy, usually on political favors
This fails another economic rule: Always spend credit type money on improving production, never on consumption.
Credit Euro’s soon leave Greek economy in trade for a BMW or some other manufactured good.
These credit Euros soon pile up as savings and increased money supply in German Banks.
Former Debt Instrument, hypothecated into being at step 3 above is demanding usury. It is growing, but former Greek Euro’s have vectored away from Greece’s money supply.
Greek politicians type up another bond. They then refinance the former bond.
This breaks another rule: Never allow usury of one bond become principle in a new one. This makes the interest equation go exponential. This is a serious usurious maneuver that should be illegal.
Germany continues to be mercantile and exports more than they import
This breaks another rule: Economies should balance, especially with goods and services.
Note: Germany could not get out of Versailles debts because America limited her imports. Hence Germany couldn’t sell goods in exchange for needed dollars. Here is a case of Germany not learning from her own history.
Debt instruments continue to grow, and now are growing outside of nature in an inexorable exponential fashion.
Bond holders want to be paid, and now enter into harvest phase, demanding Greek Islands and other real property
The law does not step in and cancel onerous debts.
No law broken here, but it is a shame that man has not learned these mechanisms. Shame on us.
Note: Aristotle and Lycurgus of Sparta knew more about money than all the current economists in Greece or Germany today.
1.This fails another economic rule: Always spend credit type money on improving production, never on consumption.
The American leaderships should have learned this one.......The first money priteed should have built Infrastucture. That would have created jobs and backing to Obama's "You didn't build that" comment.
Looking for facts to support a theory is not good science. Cherry picking facts to support a theory is easier though.
Looking for facts that disprove a theory is good science.
If you can't find any, the theory stands, if you do, the theory falls.
It's called the scientific method.
Most scientists hope for facts that disprove theories, as it tends to lead to new knowledge.
Self governed, what a nonsense concept. I force myself to do stuff through Tony.
What do you mean the people aren't to blame in the blame game. By not contesting a jump into the Eurozone and Euro, they created their demize. Just because the centrist con artists were able to con-vince them it was a good deal and they could live off of the fat of the Euro (at least for awhile), didn't mean they had to join in.
Fascists do what they do best leach off of the people. If the people don't object they get to sleep in the slop.
The only real danger that exists is man, himself. Since we allow the evil, we are the origin of it.
LISTEN! I'm a PhD in Economics and can categorically state that Greece has been propping up the German Economy for the best part of 15 years.
Admitting to being a PhD in economics is not neccessarily proof of anything, as economics is based on false premises.
A science, it is not.
Ok logicalman you got me , i'm a PhD in Bullshitting which is an exact science.
The free shit army here ain't lazy. They just rather get it for free. Same with the Greco. Lazy is such a harsh word, don't you think.
The free shit army here ain't lazy. They just rather get it for free. Same with the Greco. Lazy is such a harsh word, don't you think.
Hey ZH ers, You do know that the Greek victor are filthy Marxist? Ahh, but they hate them some Oligarch.
Ha! Beat it Jamie Dimon. Or is it Blankfein.
Oh, now I get it, them hate them some Joo's too, and luv on them PAL's.
A single currency across disparate economies is a ludicrous concept. This was always going to end in tears. The pain of 'internal devaluation' as peripheral countries like Greece try and compete with Germany was eventually going to be intolerable to the electorate. The sooner Greece ditches the Euro the better for all concerned.
First of all Thad Beversdorf is my porn name, so i'm calling BS on this author.
Secondly i have met enough Greeks to know without a doubt they are chubby lazy smelly hairy bastards, no offense; and that's just the women.
He could have said the Euro is a f_cking stupid idea and i would have thought the guy was a genius. Instead he shows me a chart to prove that Greeks are not lazy, when they haven't done a damn thing since the Parthenon.
I halfway followed this unfold. During the run up I was rooting for Syriza for no other reason than to stick it to the man. Then I find out they're socialists.
But your comment is thoughtful:
A prosperous working class, guaranteed individual rights and freedom, these should be the end game.
Socialist or not, if these are their goals, I wish them success.
Sounds a bit like the way the USA was before 1913.
Go Greece!
In the first place getting Greece in the euro was like placing a LADA in a F1 race.
We never had heavy industry other than tourism and that's to blame the politicians for.
Greek scientists and laborers are thriving throughout the world.
Bad politics that's all,lazy people can be found in every nations people and we have some here and some dumb too,but they are not to blame for the bad financial status.
Greetings from Hellas. (only Finland has our countrie name right)
Repeat after me... Correlation is not indicative of Causation. Correlation is not indicative of Causation.