Naurgul

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Taxation trends in the European Union by krattrin europe

[–]Naurgul 0 points1 point ago

Would anyone actually get offended if details like this weren't observed in EU documents?

Taxation trends in the European Union by krattrin europe

[–]Naurgul 1 point2 points ago

It's called a race to the bottom.

Why the EU cares about Greece (KhanAcademy) by flocosixin europe

[–]Naurgul -1 points0 points ago

If that's the case, then he would have to include a third case, which is "creditor nations decide it's too costly to act on their threat so Greece is allowed to default from inside the eurozone"?

But this is still not the complete picture. There is also talk about how Greece can regain competitiveness by going to a cheaper currency. That's probably a compelling reason in the medium turn but at the same time a sudden change of currency will cause chaos in the short term and it's debatable whether a cheap currency is even desirable in the long term.

This whole issue is completely thrown under the carpet in the video.

Why the EU cares about Greece (KhanAcademy) by flocosixin europe

[–]Naurgul 0 points1 point ago

  1. There is no explanation why Greece cannot default inside the eurozone.

  2. The explanation is so simplistic that I thought I was on simple.wikipedia.org or ELI5.

I'm about to play Fallout for the first time. Are there any mods that I should get? by dinofoodin Games

[–]Naurgul 5 points6 points ago

Here's a modding guide for Fallout 2, I suppose for Fallout 1 you can follow similar steps.

Euro Crisis: Sure, There's Greece... But What About Spain? by krattrin europe

[–]Naurgul 1 point2 points ago

Haha, I needed a laugh. Thanks. :)

Η πρώτη απόφαση λήψης τεχνολογικών μέτρων παρεμπόδισης της πρόσβασης χρηστών σε ιστοσελίδες | Into.the.Void. by nkokkalisin greece

[–]Naurgul 0 points1 point ago

Οι άλλοι ευρωπαίοι έχουν μέχρι επίπεδο ΛάΟΣ. Εμείς το παρακάναμε.

Euro Crisis: Sure, There's Greece... But What About Spain? by krattrin europe

[–]Naurgul 0 points1 point ago

I tried reading up on how this collectivisation was supposed to work and I couldn't understand it. Do you know how much control the workers had versus the central authorities? If collectivisation meant to centralise everything and that's what Stalin did, then this isn't really what leftists want, is it?

The point of the left-right divide is to take the highly dimensional structure of political ideology and project it to a single dimension while retaining some useful properties. Otherwise, it would not be convenient to use it.

Your reference to Hitler should answer your own question. If central planning is the defining characteristic of projecting political ideologies to the left-right spectrum, then, you would have to place both Hitler and Stalin on the same position. That would make the left-right divide inconvenient; you already suggested yourself that it makes sense that they should fall into different positions.

That's why I keep asking the question of how you define the left-right divide. For me, it makes more sense to say that the Left means that power should be shared while the Right means that power should be given to those who deserve it. If you define it that way, then both Stalin and Hitler are right-wing because they were dictators, socialist policies that help establish worker's control are left-wing, capitalism and economic libertarianism are right-wing because they preach that economic power justifies itself and so on.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

Euro Crisis: Sure, There's Greece... But What About Spain? by krattrin europe

[–]Naurgul 1 point2 points ago

It's not that I haven't heard of it, it's just that it makes little sense. How would you define the general conception of the Left so that Stalin fits in there?

Euro Crisis: Sure, There's Greece... But What About Spain? by krattrin europe

[–]Naurgul 2 points3 points ago

How the hell was Stalin left? For your information, left does not mean "nationalise everything and rule it with an iron fist".

Let's see what people think about us, OH... by NonAmericanin europe

[–]Naurgul 8 points9 points ago

It's a big melting pot. Saying that it is mostly descendants of Turkish people is probably inaccurate, but the Balkans in general is not exactly the best place to find racial purity, if you can catch my drift.

Most Greeks will deny that, though. Don't bring it up if you go to Greece.

Let's see what people think about us, OH... by NonAmericanin europe

[–]Naurgul 2 points3 points ago

Judging from myself, I'm not going to deny it. Like the Dutch, we rationalise by saying that it's directness and honesty but it's also bad manners in a sense.

Alexis Tsipras: "It's a war between people and capitalism" by JB_UKin europe

[–]Naurgul 0 points1 point ago

The distinction usually made is between possession and capital. If you live in the house, it's considered that you are using it and that's supposed to be fine. If you're just using it as a means to further accumulate capital, that's supposed to be bad.

As for the positive sides of renting, I guess I agree but I think you don't see the whole picture. In the theoretical society where renting is abolished, the unoccupied buildings would be free for anyone to use (plus maintenance fees). So, relocating or living temporarily somewhere would be easier.

The only way it would be problematic would be if there were more families than unoccupied houses so everyone would be in possession of a house and then who would have an incentive to build more houses?

"In Athens, the homeless are on the streets in growing numbers, soup kitchens feed twice as many people as a year ago, and the poor are diving into garbage bins in search of scrap they can sell. Greece is close to breaking point as it struggles with austerity targets set by creditors" by trot-trotin worldnews

[–]Naurgul 0 points1 point ago

The people of Greece are to blame in the same way people who got subprime loans are to blame.

If you put it that way, I agree. But I don't see anyone accusing them, all I see is accusing the banks for predatory lending practices. Feels like a double standard to me.

In the end, Greece wasn't ready for entering the euro.

Depends on what the euro stood for. If it was supposed to be a step towards unification and fiscal union then it should have been designed so Greece could enter. If it was supposed to be a gold-standard type thing for very advanced economies, then Greece of course wasn't ready by a long shot.

"In Athens, the homeless are on the streets in growing numbers, soup kitchens feed twice as many people as a year ago, and the poor are diving into garbage bins in search of scrap they can sell. Greece is close to breaking point as it struggles with austerity targets set by creditors" by trot-trotin worldnews

[–]Naurgul 0 points1 point ago

The assumption I made was that Greece wouldn't be forced to go out of the euro. An unrealistic scenario but the claim that I wanted to disprove was that "Greece does not have enough money to keep their country afloat".

"In Athens, the homeless are on the streets in growing numbers, soup kitchens feed twice as many people as a year ago, and the poor are diving into garbage bins in search of scrap they can sell. Greece is close to breaking point as it struggles with austerity targets set by creditors" by trot-trotin worldnews

[–]Naurgul 0 points1 point ago

Yes, it's not realistic but the original argument was that "Greece does not have enough money to keep their country afloat". That's what I set out to disprove. I have no doubt in my mind that defaulting is a risky, reckless move.

Alexis Tsipras: "It's a war between people and capitalism" by JB_UKin europe

[–]Naurgul -1 points0 points ago

but after having seen and heard words upon words upon words with the actual amount of change it's brought being close enough to 'fuck all' to make no difference, I'm seriously doubting Greeks' capacity to change at all.

You are seriously underestimating the amount of fiscal consolidation the country has already gone through. Read here.

Also, what does "doubting the capacity of a whole country to change" even mean? This is a very racist argument to make, as if Greeks are some sort of ape-people from a different planet, completely different from you normal human folk.

Alexis Tsipras: "It's a war between people and capitalism" by JB_UKin europe

[–]Naurgul 2 points3 points ago

Capitalism is not the liberty to open shops, make products and sell them at your discretion. That's called the free market. You can have capitalism without the free market (see Soviet-style "socialist-communism" experiments) and you can have a free market without capitalism (see mutualism). The issue of being for or against the free market is orthogonal to the issue of being for or against capitalism. If you have both (with a dose of the remnants of mercantilism) you get the system that is currently in place. If you decide to have neither, that would be anarcho-communism (which, by the way, would still not disallow people from forming enterprises).

Capitalism means to be entitled to the labour of others through ownership of the capital. The most obvious example of capitalism is paying rent. The owner does not labour but they still expect to be paid. This sort of thing is what anti-capitalists criticise, not the liberty to open shops and make products.

Greece has pretty much eliminated its primary deficit by Naurgulin europe

[–]Naurgul[S] 4 points5 points ago

Paywall bypass:

Greece still needs its international creditors from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund, but it needs them much less than when its now-despised bailout program began in 2010.

How so? The IMF and the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, project that Greece’s primary deficit – that’s the government deficit excluding interest payments – will be 1% of gross domestic product in 2012.

That’s not too bad. It’s better than the forecast government balances of France, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, and Luxembourg, among others. And it’s way down from the 10.4% primary deficit Greece recorded in 2009 – a sign of how much austerity the country has endured over the past three years.

The EU and the IMF haven’t been particularly good predictors of anything related to the Greek economy, and in November they were still saying Greece would record a 1% of GDP primary surplus this year. But still, a 1% deficit is in the same ballpark, albeit a pretty large ballpark.

That means Greece needs much less money from the euro zone and the IMF to continue paying pensions, civil servants and otherwise keep its government running. So, well done to everybody involved! The sound of champagne corks popping should be echoing through the hallways of euro-zone finance ministries, right?

Uh, not exactly. Anxiety over the Greek program and a possible Greek exit from the euro zone has never been higher. The Greek electorate is furious with its politicians for dragging them through five years (and counting) of recession. A standoff between Greece’s anti-bailout politicians and the euro zone threatens to push Greece out of the single currency area, imposing enormous costs on the Greek economy and destabilizing the euro zone as a whole.

You’d think given how far Greece has come – and the enormous cost of a euro-zone exit – that euro-zone policymakers would be bending over backwards to diffuse the anti-bailout backlash in Greece.

But instead, euro-zone politicians are seeking yet more from Greece. They want the government to repay its existing debt, which was just restructured in March, and all its interest payments. This will be no small feat: The commission projects Greek interest payments, even after the restructuring, will be 6.3% of GDP this year and 6.4% in 2013, easily the biggest interest burden in the 27-nation EU.

With interest payments this large and nominal GDP expected to drop sharply this year and probably next, full repayment is almost certainly impossible. Greece’s deficit excluding interest payments is small, a sign of how much both Greece and the euro zone could benefit from more debt forgiveness. A tough restructuring could transform Greece from the cause of the currency bloc’s collapse to a country with a small deficit, moderate debt, stagnant growth and high unemployment i.e., not much different from the other countries of the euro zone’s troubled periphery.

From the euro zone’s perspective, that would surely be better outcome than the cataclysmic financial crisis that could be triggered by a Greek exit from the currency bloc.

Being yes men of Europe has got Ireland nowhere - The Irish Times by lemsipin europe

[–]Naurgul 1 point2 points ago

Cry me a river. Being a tax haven is the easy way out. Sharing the tax base is only fair.

Merkel 'suggests Greek referendum on euro membership' by Hansamanin europe

[–]Naurgul 0 points1 point ago

I've submitted quite a few articles like that lately, hoping to get a discussion going because I too can't decide what's what. They all get stuck at about 5 upvotes with hardly any comments.

My guess is that the general population of /r/europe isn't interested enough in how economics work. Perhaps it would be better to find an economist and discuss it with them.

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