Krugman writes: "Will the euro really be saved? That remains very much in doubt."
Portrait, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, 06/15/09. (photo: Fred R. Conrad/NYT)
Crash of the Bumblebee
30 July 12
ast week Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, declared that his institution “is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro” - and markets celebrated. In particular, interest rates on Spanish bonds fell sharply, and stock markets soared everywhere.
But will the euro really be saved? That remains very much in doubt.
First of all, Europe’s single currency is a deeply flawed construction. And Mr. Draghi, to his credit, actually acknowledged that. “The euro is like a bumblebee,” he declared. “This is a mystery of nature because it shouldn’t fly but instead it does. So the euro was a bumblebee that flew very well for several years.” But now it has stopped flying. What can be done? The answer, he suggested, is “to graduate to a real bee.”
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In the USA to get basic medicine you need a doctor prescription/vi sit ($200) in EU you get it for $2 over the counter.
Go into US rural area - 30 something with missing teeth - quite common - people pulling their own teeth - NOT in Spain. Spain has a social safety net - US does NOT have any. US is bankrupted be militarism - huge national debt:
Gross Federal Debt Debt Held by Public
FY 2013*$17.5 trillion $10.6 trillion
sum/divide 30 trillion by 300 million (US population)= $100,000 debt by EVERY MAN, WOMEN, and CHILD in USA. $500,000 per family. EU is in OK shape, US is BANKRUPT.
And since hubbies Social Security check is still showing up and his medical care is still taken care of by Medicare and his supplimental policy (thank you Prez - the saving from the ACA are showing up) - I'd posit we do have a social safety net. Not the best one we could have - so hopefully that happens in Obama's second term.
NO DENTAL care for MEDICARE. USA safety net is compared to Europe (or Libya before "liberation") is NON existent.
All of that is true but it doesn't put enough $$$ in the economy to make it rebound. Should the Congress overturn the Health Care Bill suddenly 30 million people will be added to the existing 30 million uninsured and it would only take Flu Epidemic to bring the medical system to it's knees when everyone goes to the ER for care.
Fix the economy, endure enough inflation t to employ the country and the tax dollars will roll in. This is an investment where the Gov't gets whole bunch of it's money back almost immediately.
Also call into question the Patriotic Duty of the uber-rich who hide money offshore to avoid taxes and get tax breaks that slow the economy down. The benefit from the US and starve it otherwise. Their performance is Un-American.
It should be the other way around.
The "Fragmented States" is wantonly and deliberately less socially unified than the different nation states of Europe with their unique and dearly-held customs, languages and mores.
The fact of a "Master Currency" as an economic safety net is less important than the universally acknowledge understanding of what comprises basic human rights and a basically decent standard of living. The over-arching language comprising economic gobbldeygook, deliberately written in terms that are confusing to everybody but economic theorists, seems to me to be main obstacle to a solution created by the same set of requirements imposed on a bewildered and stricken populace.
As I stated in another post, can any American, having been unemployed for any amount of time but especially long term, imagine being able to go to a doctor, dentist or other health care provider "(COBRA" is a joke if your income is thus restricted) without being scared shitless about how to pay for it?
I think that the European model should be what is aspired to here but ain't holding my breath!
Make the economists work for the people and not mould things to the desires of whatever theorem they are mucking about with at any given time.
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