Monday, July 06, 2015
Stupid both ways
One important point in the Greek mess is being missed or misunderstood in two opposite ways. The misunderstanding may be intentional, but I don't think so.
This connects to the mis/dys/understanding of austerity that I noted earlier.
(1) One "pro-capitalist" commentator says that getting out of debt requires a growing economy, and Greece wasn't growing because it was "socialist". Simply not true. Getting out of debt requires an income for sure. If you have no income, no chance. But it doesn't require a growing income IF YOU CAN CUT YOUR EXPENSES. Most debt-prone individuals have a problem on the spending side. Even when they get a huge windfall they still overspend instead of saving. That's exactly what Greece has been doing forever. But Greece has been making an extra mistake that doesn't parallel individual behavior: FAILING TO CASH ITS PAYCHECKS, i.e. intentionally failing to collect taxes. Households never make that mistake.
(2) Another "pro-capitalist" says that Greece is socialist BECAUSE it didn't collect its taxes. HUH? This makes no sense even by the usual Repooflican dyslogic. Repoofs are required to say that ANY TAX IS SOCIALIST. ZERO TAX is the sole criterion of goodness. By Repoof standards, Greece's tax failure should make it the ideal role model for all capitalists.
Plain and simple fact: REAL socialist countries DO NOT OPERATE ON DEBT. The former Soviet bloc countries came out of Sovietism with no debt, and many of them have wisely continued with frugality. This already gives them an advantage, and as the fraud-based Goldman monstrosity in the west continues to tumble, the advantage will grow stronger.
Labels: Гром победы
¶ 4:03 PM
