Re:Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?
by imtringued on Thursday November 24, 2022 @06:06AM
(#33729970)
I agree with the foreign debt strategy.
E.g. Greece is being talked about as if it was somehow an immoral country that is constantly living beyond their means and somehow the Germans are the heroes who bail out the Greeks who used the debt to buy uh what exactly did they buy? German exports? Wait a moment. If Greeks are buying German products, why aren't Germans just buying Greek products instead of bailing them out? It would be mutually beneficial and solve the debt problem. It turns out, paying off the debt is the last thing Germany wants. If anything, it wants the debt to stay there to act out a nationalist hero role that is both counterproductive to German and Greek citizens and only really benefits the German export industry and the handful of workers directly employed by them.
For Greek products to become competitive in Germany, wages in Germany would have to go up. In other words, Greece is a scape goat to distract from domestic issues in Germany just like the EU was the scape goat for the UK.
E.g. Greece is being talked about as if it was somehow an immoral country that is constantly living beyond their means and somehow the Germans are the heroes who bail out the Greeks who used the debt to buy uh what exactly did they buy? German exports? Wait a moment. If Greeks are buying German products, why aren't Germans just buying Greek products instead of bailing them out? It would be mutually beneficial and solve the debt problem. It turns out, paying off the debt is the last thing Germany wants. If anything, it wants the debt to stay there to act out a nationalist hero role that is both counterproductive to German and Greek citizens and only really benefits the German export industry and the handful of workers directly employed by them.
For Greek products to become competitive in Germany, wages in Germany would have to go up. In other words, Greece is a scape goat to distract from domestic issues in Germany just like the EU was the scape goat for the UK.