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Economics and the Media
Jul. 8th, 2015 06:56 amYesterday on NPR I heard a revealing factoid: A German gentleman, addressing the Greek pseudo-crisis, explained that in his native tongue, “Debt” and “Guilt” are the *same word*. His point was that this cultural (false?) equivalence went a long way to explain the intransigence of Merkel and the banksters. They really are (unconsciously?) trying to Punish Those Greek People, cuz they’re _Guilty_.
They are also, according to the Media, *lazy*. All I can say about that is, when I visited Greece in 2004, every one of my hosts was working long hours and they each had a hard time finding time to hang out. I didn’t meet any _lazy_ people when in Athens or the nearby countryside.
In case the above does not make it clear, I have a different interpretation of this BS than the US and European Media are pushing. I disagree with the economists, including Krugman, although he is less moronic than most of them. His best point, that technocratic advice pushing for austerity in order to pay off debt is a losing game for the debtor nation, is shared in part by one of my favorite writers, John Ralston Saul. Mr. Saul goes further, stating unequivocally: that “No Nation has ever prospered by paying down debt.”
A cursory examination of History would seem to prove him correct.
Just as getting really thirsty during a drought does not create more water, economic austerity in a debt crisis creates no new cash flow.
And *Cash Flow*, boys and girls, is what makes it possible to pay off debt. You and I know that instinctively, even if it is opaque to the High Priests of the Dismal Cult of Economics.
If the EU really wanted the Greek Gov’t to pay some of that money back, they’d be taking steps to revitalize the economy of poor Hellas, not crush it with futile bullying.
(Never mind that the cash bailout was really a scam to re-capitalize a group of badly managed German [and some English] banks. That’s a different rant altogether.)
Anyway, I urge all of you to consider the bias that the Mainstream Media has in favor of technocratic solutions to such manufactured crises. If you look at Iceland, where they let the mismanaged banks fail and jailed the perpetrators of the fraud, (then re-wrote their constitution in a more democratic vein) you’ll see a more humanistic approach to the problems of criminal bankers and the crimes they profit from.
Oh well. Gotta go. See ya!
They are also, according to the Media, *lazy*. All I can say about that is, when I visited Greece in 2004, every one of my hosts was working long hours and they each had a hard time finding time to hang out. I didn’t meet any _lazy_ people when in Athens or the nearby countryside.
In case the above does not make it clear, I have a different interpretation of this BS than the US and European Media are pushing. I disagree with the economists, including Krugman, although he is less moronic than most of them. His best point, that technocratic advice pushing for austerity in order to pay off debt is a losing game for the debtor nation, is shared in part by one of my favorite writers, John Ralston Saul. Mr. Saul goes further, stating unequivocally: that “No Nation has ever prospered by paying down debt.”
A cursory examination of History would seem to prove him correct.
Just as getting really thirsty during a drought does not create more water, economic austerity in a debt crisis creates no new cash flow.
And *Cash Flow*, boys and girls, is what makes it possible to pay off debt. You and I know that instinctively, even if it is opaque to the High Priests of the Dismal Cult of Economics.
If the EU really wanted the Greek Gov’t to pay some of that money back, they’d be taking steps to revitalize the economy of poor Hellas, not crush it with futile bullying.
(Never mind that the cash bailout was really a scam to re-capitalize a group of badly managed German [and some English] banks. That’s a different rant altogether.)
Anyway, I urge all of you to consider the bias that the Mainstream Media has in favor of technocratic solutions to such manufactured crises. If you look at Iceland, where they let the mismanaged banks fail and jailed the perpetrators of the fraud, (then re-wrote their constitution in a more democratic vein) you’ll see a more humanistic approach to the problems of criminal bankers and the crimes they profit from.
Oh well. Gotta go. See ya!
