Then was is the correct assessment of the situation in Greece and Spain?
[/quote]
Let me rephrase, again. That was so incredibly simplistic of an assessment to the point of being irrelevant to the bigger picture.
[quote=briansd1]
The way I see it that the PIGS, upon joining the Euro suddenly enjoyed higher purchasing and borrowing power and better standards of living, but they failed to reform and improve productivity.
[/quote]
Yes, if you join agree play by the dominant mafias rules you get more goodies. At least that was the plan. And who could turn it down. Even if the dominant set of rules was unsustainable, doomed to fail and systemically corrupt. And when the unsustainable rules blow up, the victims are demonized and the mafia gets it all. This was used across south america over the last few decades.
[quote=briansd1]
So now it’s time to pay back the debt.
[/quote]
No, it’s time to default on loans with predatory designs and bring the whole house of cards down. Lets step back and take a look at the big picture, which I tried to to with my lengthy post on population dynamics above. What we have here, IMO, is a systemically induced “crisis” (housing bubble) at the onset of a naturally induced crisis(peak oil) – which muddied the waters and, peak oil alone, would have set up a very similar dynamic(credit/banking crisis) without the housing bubble. My question is, did money power knowingly influence the housing bubble as to hide peak oil? What this essentially would do is get the population arguing over the “blame” much more so than just an oil shock induced crisis. As in, “look at all these greedy debtors that went crazy” rather than focusing elsewhere. And really, it’s irrelevant what the policy makes knew and how that influenced policy decisions. But, what is fact, is that we landed our troops on the most unexplored and possibly biggest oil reserves on the planet, simultaneously while blowing the biggest financial bubble of all time, all while approaching the onset of permanent world oil decline(which has been well studied by geo-strategic planners since the 90s and maybe as far back as the 60s).
[quote=briansd1]
The PIGS are not much different from American homeowners buying houses they couldn’t afford. Is that because of corruption on the bankers’ part, or is it because of gluttony on the part of the debtors (who wanted to consume more)?
[/quote]
They are not much different in their gullibility or corruption at the top of the pyramid where the politicians are in back pockets of money power sacrificing the citizens and behest of their lord mammon. Yes, many citizens took the bait, but I would be willing to bet their is more collateral damage than not. In addition, “gluttony” is a major driver of profits and economic growth. Debt based gluttony included. And even debt based gluttony that was defaulted on lined the pockets of a few – and still is.
[quote=briansd1]
There’s plenty of blame to go around.
[/quote]
Only in the unsustainable system which spawned it, though I will place slightly more blame at the top of the scam. The socially sophisticated and influencial ones that seem to be benefiting and concentrating wealth from the debacle.
If you step back a look at this, it is systemic across the whole world and concentrated in western states. It is a massive market failure primarily caused by politicians and bankers.
[quote=briansd1]
But demonstrating for a return to the easy money will not work. The citizens of the PIGS can overthrow their governments all they want, but civil unrest and anarchy will make things worse, not better.
[/quote]
Again, you seem to be a little hypocritical because the return of easy money is what you advocate and praise here. Second, if you think they are out there protesting for more stuff, you are extremely misguided. My hopes, is that it will spawn cascading bank and derivatives failure that will spread across europe and the US – just to get the show on the road. It’s coming regardless. The longer we drag it out the lizard bankers will get it all. Rather than a slow boil for humanity – I’d like to see them doused scalding how water as to awake from their slumber as not to be ushered into a feudalistic future.
[quote=briansd1]
Europe has a problem with too much debt and too few productive working people.[/quote]
What you are creating is a dialectic. Opposing forces which clash and create a new reality. The old, debtor’s tyranny over productive workers. The greedy debtors that want more verse the productive workers that live within their means and have to suffer. Viewing reality this way will skew your perception and form your allegiances. I think that is a false dialectic. It is, and has always been, money power verse the rest of humanity. Those who want it all, and use their influence over social institutions to influence behavior verse everybody else. It’s part of the dueling perception or narratives that is emerging. With your perception, you are aligning with money power over the majority. So, you mine as well join the tea-party now;)
