Depending on how much faith one puts in official unemployment rates (I assume they all lies to about the same extent) Europe has 50% higher unemployment than the US. 12% there, roughly 8% in the US. Even the NYT notices. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/b...f-12-percent.html?partner=MYWAY&ei=5065&_r=2& Germany, like Texas and North Dakota in the US, bucks the trend, but things are bad in large swathes of Europe. The Germans are tiring of carrying the rest of Europe. Europe reaping the rewards of socialism.
So - what exactly does that mean? The Germans are thinking of dropping the Euro, leaving the European Union, or - ?
They are talking dropping subsidies to the PIIGS which will make them drop out. Germany has a tough choice. If the euro collapses, not only does Germany take a major haircut, but the deutshemark goes so strong nobody can afford their stuff and they go into Depression. The only way the euro limps along and Germany continues to dominate euro-trade is for them to carry the losers into the foreseeable future.
I thought it was rather funny; The US and Britain both have unemployment at 7.7%, but ours is trending down while it's implied England is trending up. I'm kind of surprised this isn't getting more attention given the number of posters from the UK. Maybe I shouldn't be! lol
That's a good point Stuart. Despite his many faults on the international front, domestically Obama is far braver at taking on the banksters then our bunch of public school boys are.
Have you noticed that much of the Euro crisis was triggered by Brussels telling the fiscally undisciplined members to rein in the borrowing compared (for instance) to GDP. This had knock-on effects all over the place. Paul Krugman reasons that now is not the time for governments to curb borrowing and spending, but instead to spend more and take on the main role in driving the market. The Euro leaders disagreed with him. That debt level had little to do with 'socialism', but with things like uncurbed real estate markets and irresponsible bank lending; typical capitalist excesses. Want to see why? OK. Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, there is no higher authority to curb the borrowings of the President and Congress. There they just vote a higher debt ceiling and the problem goes away (lol). At the start of this crisis the US ratio of per capita debt and debt:GDP was as bad as that of Greece. Yet no-one seemed to notice. And the borrowing roared on. In the past ten years the US public debt has increased by 160%. And 'Murkans have been conned into believing that the problem lies in Europe. No it doesn't. Europe is trying to FIX their problem. They are not willing to delay the pain. Whereas in the US ...... etc. Let's check. Here is a bit of honesty from David Stockman, former director of the Office of Management and Budget - http://www.safehaven.com/article/29354/stockman-says-fed-is-off-the-deep-end: So, by the same token, could one say that the even worse mess in the USA, denied by every 'Murkan man and his dog (with some notable exceptions), is due to Capitalism? Or is it due to something far simpler ... greed, fear of pain, and denial .... and Stockman is correct? And with these totally unwarranted highs in the markets, are we on the brink of the mother of all stock market crashes?
If unemployment is trending down here, it's not because of what Obama is doing but in SPITE of it. I wouldn't exactly say Our Glorious Messiah has been taking them on, either. This is more the kind of stuff he does.
PIIGS ? you forget Cyprus, France, the UK and recently the Netherlands...not to speak about Slovenia who is currently at the line for bailout . It doesn't get any more than the basic of economic understanding to get that the eurozone is bad for everyone. This is exactly what "social democrats" did in Europe , built a social state with the scraps of the banking sector and today you see the results. In other news Bernanke should be honoured with a permanent membership in typographer's labour union.
