I'm not saying government shouldnt hire people; I'm by no means a small government guy.
However paying people to do nothing, pen pushers if you prefer, will not improve the economy anywhere near the amount proper investment will.
Build roads, build high speed rail to link up the large cities. Subsidized industrial and farming modernization programs. Invest in schools for long term economic growth.
Publicly owned utilities, electric, gas, etc, are good in theory but the problem is that they always suffer from under investment because governments hide the costs in general taxation and wont put the prices up to cover the needed spending since it would make them unpopular and hence lose the next election. They also have a tendency to become heavily unionized to the point where it becomes a drag on efficiency (London Underground, i'm looking at you). Again, I'm not against unions but they tend to dominate public sector working environment and make change almost impossible to implement, even when it is obviously needed. And don't get me started on the public sector pensions (yes i do in fact know about them, both my parents are on them and my wife is too.)
Denmark also has an explicit opt out as I understand it.
Plus you could make the booting out a temporary thing, with the understanding that once the greek economy stabilizes then they will be re-admitted to the euro. at the new exchange rate obviously.
UKIP, as much as I dislike them, don't want to destroy the EU. They just want the UK out. They don't want British money going to foreign countries and they don't want foreign workers coming here and taking our jobs.
Correct. There is no direct method linked to the Euro for the movement of money from the rich countries to the poor ones as there is in the US with the redistribution of wealth via federal taxes.
What happens in Europe is the governments pay money to the EU Commission and that in turn spends the money in the member countries.
Some countries (UK and Germany being prime examples) pay more in than they get back. but it's not linked to the Euro or taxation, at least not directly.
Irish economy grew 4.8% in 2014 making them the fastest growing economy in Europe.
Just saying.
Probably helps that one of their major trading partners (the UK) isnt in the euro and is doing ok-ish.
Balls. What is larceny is taking my taxes to subsidize other peoples lifestyle choices.
For example, here in the UK we're having "austerity". I use the quotation marks because the cuts so far have been more in the "not increasing spending" column rather than "spending less".
One of the things they did actually cut was housing benefit to those who have a house that is bigger than they need. So if you were on housing benefit and you had two kids each with their own bedroom and then the kids move out and get a place of your own, you'd get the benefit cut since you didnt need a bigger house.
Those that opposed this dubbed it "The Bedroom Tax" as though the government were charging people money rather than not paying people money that they did not need.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not saying government shouldnt hire people; I'm by no means a small government guy.
However paying people to do nothing, pen pushers if you prefer, will not improve the economy anywhere near the amount proper investment will.
Build roads, build high speed rail to link up the large cities. Subsidized industrial and farming modernization programs. Invest in schools for long term economic growth.
Publicly owned utilities, electric, gas, etc, are good in theory but the problem is that they always suffer from under investment because governments hide the costs in general taxation and wont put the prices up to cover the needed spending since it would make them unpopular and hence lose the next election. They also have a tendency to become heavily unionized to the point where it becomes a drag on efficiency (London Underground, i'm looking at you). Again, I'm not against unions but they tend to dominate public sector working environment and make change almost impossible to implement, even when it is obviously needed. And don't get me started on the public sector pensions (yes i do in fact know about them, both my parents are on them and my wife is too.)
Denmark also has an explicit opt out as I understand it. Plus you could make the booting out a temporary thing, with the understanding that once the greek economy stabilizes then they will be re-admitted to the euro. at the new exchange rate obviously.
So if i lie to a bank to obtain a loan, the load has no legal standing? Is that really your argument?
only if germany lets it. which they have been very reluctant to do despite a lot of the other world economies doing it (USA, UK, Japan)
It does work quite well. If you don't tell everyone you're employing game theory so they can work out your bluffing.
bringing people onto the public payroll does not count as a true reduction in unemployment..
holy christ this. IANADBIAMTO (I am not a doctor, but I am married to one). She is the worst patient in the world. The absolute worst.
> This is the first time that I can think of that a population directly voted in the affirmative to collapse their economy.
In fact, that happens so often, political scientists have a term for it: "populism". It's very popular in some parts of the world.
Mostly not in the /first/ world, admittedly.
In fact, that happens so often, political scientists have a term for it: "populism". It's very popular in some parts of the world.
"populism". It's very popular
I see what you did there.
They need to boot them out of the Euro, not the EU.
UKIP, as much as I dislike them, don't want to destroy the EU. They just want the UK out. They don't want British money going to foreign countries and they don't want foreign workers coming here and taking our jobs.
they're at work more than the germans. but the germans actually do the work they are paid to do.
Correct. There is no direct method linked to the Euro for the movement of money from the rich countries to the poor ones as there is in the US with the redistribution of wealth via federal taxes. What happens in Europe is the governments pay money to the EU Commission and that in turn spends the money in the member countries. Some countries (UK and Germany being prime examples) pay more in than they get back. but it's not linked to the Euro or taxation, at least not directly.
Irish economy grew 4.8% in 2014 making them the fastest growing economy in Europe. Just saying. Probably helps that one of their major trading partners (the UK) isnt in the euro and is doing ok-ish.
Dronist.
Balls. What is larceny is taking my taxes to subsidize other peoples lifestyle choices. For example, here in the UK we're having "austerity". I use the quotation marks because the cuts so far have been more in the "not increasing spending" column rather than "spending less". One of the things they did actually cut was housing benefit to those who have a house that is bigger than they need. So if you were on housing benefit and you had two kids each with their own bedroom and then the kids move out and get a place of your own, you'd get the benefit cut since you didnt need a bigger house. Those that opposed this dubbed it "The Bedroom Tax" as though the government were charging people money rather than not paying people money that they did not need.