[www.cnn.com]

Will things stabilize ? Will the Eurozone recover ? How do entitlement programs fare in this environment ? Will voters and policy makers in the US learn anything from this disaster, or will we merely continue to argue about what it means ?

Stay tuned.

>>Will voters and policy makers in the US learn anything from this disaster, or will we merely continue to argue about what it means ?

what, exactly, could we POSSIBLY learn from greece's situation?

I can only assume that people asking the question have no idea what is happening in greece.

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I think your subject line may be hitting the sauce...

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Black
I think your subject line may be hitting the sauce...

"Ne" is how a Greek says "Yes".

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mattkime
>>Will voters and policy makers in the US learn anything from this disaster, or will we merely continue to argue about what it means ?

what, exactly, could we POSSIBLY learn from greece's situation?

I can only assume that people asking the question have no idea what is happening in greece.

One of the things they have been talking about on CNBC today is how the U.S. will have to deal with some of the same issues as Greece, just not as soon.

Because of our aging population, and people living longer, we do not have enough younger people entering the workforce to support social programs like Social Security, Medicare, etc.

I think the lesson we should learn from the PIIGS, not just Greece, is that we need to make a bi-partisan effort NOW to fix SS and Medicare, before we have to take drastic action without any planning. Steps to fix SS and Medicare funding should have been in place years ago, but the only thing that has been done is to raise the full retirement age a little. Medicare is a much bigger problem, IMHO, but everyone is afraid to make any moves because the senior lobby is so powerful.

The simple lesson is, you can't keep spending more money than you take in, forever. At least that is my simplistic read of a very complex situation.

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Alpharetta, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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cbelt3

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Black
I think your subject line may be hitting the sauce...

"Ne" is how a Greek says "Yes".

I thought they might be asking for a shrubbery.

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Alpharetta, GA (Atlanta suburb)

I don't know what the agenda is but Greece for all practical purposes could disappear from earth and nobody would notice. They are a great scapegoat to blame domestic problems.

>>The simple lesson is, you can't keep spending more money than you take in, forever. At least that is my simplistic read of a very complex situation.

Yes, obviously. Now, do we need Greece to show us that?

Greece's problems are SOOO much deeper than the US. Huge accounting problems - they don't even have their books straight and they've been fighting a fair amount of policial will against it. They're very poor at collecting taxes - everyone skips out on taxes in greece.

we have some of our own serious problems but greece makes us look damn near perfect.

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Yes, I just recently read that there is a LOT of tax cheating in Greece.

I was listening to The Diane Rehm Show this morning, and one caller brought up the fact that since Greece is on the euro and not on their own currency, they have no option to print more money and lower the value of their currency. Which, to my limited understanding, is a classic last-ditch maneuver for a country to fix an economic crisis. At least, the guests on the show seemed to be saying that.

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"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." ~ Brian Eno

I wouldn't call it last ditch, we've done the same thing in much smaller amounts. The main problem is that Greece can't do it at all without affecting countries that have behaved well, such as the Germans.

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$tevie
Which, to my limited understanding, is a classic last-ditch maneuver for a country to fix an economic crisis. At least, the guests on the show seemed to be saying that.

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mattkime
I wouldn't call it last ditch, we've done the same thing in much smaller amounts. The main problem is that Greece can't do it at all without affecting countries that have behaved well, such as the Germans.

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$tevie
Which, to my limited understanding, is a classic last-ditch maneuver for a country to fix an economic crisis. At least, the guests on the show seemed to be saying that.

Thank you, yes.

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"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." ~ Brian Eno

Yeah, the national pastime in Greece has always been the avoidance of paying taxes, but they still want all the social programs and to retire with full benefits years before age 65.

I agree that we are not nearly as bad as Greece, but we still need to get our income/outlay in balance. This constant cry of no new taxes, when the social programs and infrastructure and other things have to be funded, has to stop. We need to both reduce the budget and raise revenue, but few people in congress want to admit that we have to do both, it seems.

I think it is only a matter of time before the Euro and maybe the EU goes the way of the Dodo. I am surprised it has held together this long, but I think that is because the European economy was doing well until say 2008. Now that the European economy is in the toilet, the cracks in the EU will only get deeper. There are all those little countries in Europe for a reason, thousands of years of history, wars, culture, etc. I just don't see them remaining as a unit for much longer.

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Alpharetta, GA (Atlanta suburb)

>>I think it is only a matter of time before the Euro and maybe the EU goes the way of the Dodo. I am surprised it has held together this long, but I think that is because the European economy was doing well until say 2008. Now that the European economy is in the toilet, the cracks in the EU will only get deeper.

I think its here to stay. Its had tremendous benefit to all involved even considering the economic problems. Its certainly true that major changes need to be made and i have no idea how that will be addressed.

The european economy has problems but i think they're a long way (as a whole) from what we've been through in the past 5 years.

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mattkime
>>I think it is only a matter of time before the Euro and maybe the EU goes the way of the Dodo. I am surprised it has held together this long, but I think that is because the European economy was doing well until say 2008. Now that the European economy is in the toilet, the cracks in the EU will only get deeper.

I think its here to stay. Its had tremendous benefit to all involved even considering the economic problems. Its certainly true that major changes need to be made and i have no idea how that will be addressed.

The european economy has problems but i think they're a long way (as a whole) from what we've been through in the past 5 years.

We will see. I just think that the main players, the English, French, and Germans have a long, long history of not getting along together. With all the pressures put on the union by the PIIGS, I can see the stresses getting the better of the EU, but who knows. I am not sure that the EU countries will be able to make the EU central government powerful enough to make it work, without giving up more of their sovereignty than they are willing to part with.

But, as I said, I am surprised it has lasted this long, so who knows, they may make it work.

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Alpharetta, GA (Atlanta suburb)

The Euro was a kind of shotgun marriage between France and Germany; others were invited to the party. But one problem is that there is no single European bank, so German Euro get lent to Greece, and Greeks send them out of the country to German banks.

There's a very real possibility that Greece will run out of money, and their economy is dependent on imports for some very basic things--food in most places, even water in some. The solution in pre-Euro days would be to devalue the currency: it has little effect on domestic products, it makes exports cheaper, and would at least make it possible to buy imports, albeit at higher rates. The Euro doesn't allow that.

A central European bank would eliminate runs on banks, since it would provide something like FDIC insurance Euro-zone wide. But lots of people worry that the consequence would be to break the banks in Greece, Spain, maybe Italy, and leave their local banks in the hands of the Germans, Dutch, etc.

The long-term solution is a much stronger financial union, which would inevitably imply a stronger political union. That does not appear to be on the horizon.

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cbelt3

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Black
I think your subject line may be hitting the sauce...

"Ne" is how a Greek says "Yes".

I thought he might be referring to Nonce.

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rgG
Yeah, the national pastime in Greece has always been the avoidance of paying taxes, but they still want all the social programs and to retire with full benefits years before age 65.

Sounds like a TEA Party paradise!