ChillBro Braggins I would say How do you mean? but I don’t know enough about politics to argue against any claim you make and I honestly trust no one, not even nerdfighters, to have a civil debate about trump over the internet. But do, if you feel inclined, enlighten me.
@Vladimir makarov lol what is it just the us in lockdown? Its the entire world and yeah, btw. Of the uk, italy, france and spain they have double the amount of cases per capita so yeah, we're not doing so bad, idiot.
To Europe… The state of the Greek economy today is with no doubt a product of our behaviour as Greek citizens and our corrupt politicians… For thousands of years Greek leaders have gone down in history as leaders who saved and preserved our nation. These guys are going down as the ones who just sold it to Siemens…Indulge if you will and you will understand what I am trying to say. Let us list only a few projects involving various of our European ‘friends’.. Athens airport ‘Eleftherios Venizelos’ and Attiki odos, the road leading to the airport. One of our European friends making huge profits out of these projects is HOCHTIEF (Germany). To mention one. How about the Athens Metro construction/management. Was the UK company VINCI not involved in this project? This is some of the tubes’ rolling stock: • 28 six-car electric multiple units made by Alstom-Siemens-ADtranz (2000 France, Germany) • Four service hybrid locomotives made by Kaelble-Gmeinder-Siemens (Germany) • One rail-road Unimog (Germany) The Rio-Antirrio bridge in central Greece, a superb and expensive structure, was constructed by Advitam (France). Now…come to think of it all these public works sort of started when we were given the Olympic games of 2004!?? And here I have to laugh with the phrase ‘we were given’ for very obvious reasons. The Executive Board of the International Olympic committee gave us (lol) the Olympics while knowing we were seriously unequipped to handle the enormity of what the event has now become.. Why? Germany lent us money and then sold us a few submarines… Tilting submarines by the way. This is a link to the article ‘The Submarine Deals That Helped Sink Greece’ in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, by Christopher Rhoads: online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703636404575352991108208712.html Now let us get back to our very very corrupt politicians… Was the fact that these guys were receiving huge ‘favours’ from Siemens ever in the news in the rest of Europe? Was an €885 million profit Siemens made from dealings with OTE, our National Telecommunications Company ever mentioned anywhere?? Why were extortionate terms of the Siemens-OTE deal accepted by these politicians? For the interested: www.scribd.com/doc/14433472/Siemens-Scandal-Siemens-Hellas Are the dots starting to connect yet? I am not forgetting the first reason I mentioned as a factor leading to what Greece is today; our behaviour as citizens. You are right in anything you say for the majority of citizens. I have a question regarding this, though. Why is it that the Ministry of Education, a few years ago, decided to stop teaching pupils things like how the constitution of our country can or can’t change and subjects like Macro-economy (inflation, unemployment, economic cycles, budget, gross domestic product..)? Why? And now back to money, as this is a financial and not political game. Greek people in the streets are demonstrating against the ‘financial Attila’ that is taking over Europe. Recently, German Journalist Walter Wuellenweber wrote a piece on what expensive friends we are... I’ve translated part of the answer he received by a Greek citizen, George P. Psomas, published in the German journal Stern and referring to the €200 billion borrowed by Greece: “Well, Walter, over half a century has elapsed since the end of World War II. Since Germany should have taken care of its obligations towards Greece. These debts, which only Germany refused to repay to Greece (Bulgaria and Romania have already arranged their respective obligations), consist of: a) Debts of 80 million DM from the First World War. b) Debts from the ‘clearing’ difference in the interwar period, totalling $ 593,873,000, which was ruled against Germany. c) The forced loan deals the Third Reich made with Greece, amounting to 3.5 billion U.S. dollars, during the occupation. d) The damages resulting from seizing, looting and destruction that took place during the Third Reich occupation period, amounting to 7.1 billion U.S. dollars, as ruled by the Allies. e) The incalculable obligations of Germany for ending of 1,125,960 Greek lives (38.960 executed, 12,000 dead from stray bullets, 70,000 killed in battle, 105,000 dead in the camps in Germany, 600,000 deaths from starvation and 300,000 of losses from low birth rates). f) The priceless moral insult towards the Greek people and towards the humanitarian ideas expressed by the Greek idea. This problem is not financial, it is of an ethical nature; the ethics of highest moral. I know Walter, you are disturbed by what I write, but I was disturbed too by what you wrote! But what bothers me more are the things you think and want to do for me and your 'compatriots', the Greeks! Walter, beloved Walter, 130 German companies operate in Greece, including almost all German giants and they accomplish an annual turnover of 6.5 billion. You know Walter, soon I won’t be able to buy German products, because I won’t have money. Walter, I grew up with very little and I will be able to bear this.. And do not worry about the young people in Greece. There are still many old folk around to help them adapt to the new situation. But..Walter, dude, how are you going to deal with your unemployed, resulting from the situation you have created in Greece? Tell me please. I wonder: we Greeks have to leave Europe, the Eurozone (and from wherever else you want us to Germans, Swedes, Dutch and other 'compatriots’). We must go to save ourselves from a Union in appearance. From a group of speculators. From a team in which we are team mates, but only when consuming the products of our other team mates! I, beloved Walter, believe that Greeks should stop buying Mercedes, BMW, Opel, Ford, Scoda, allied products, etc., They cannot and should not! ... Not worth it. They must stop shopping from Lidl, Praktiker and IKEA. Because they won’t be able to buy these products anymore bro; what can we do? Beloved Walter we should also arrange some other "details". If I have your permission, of course, as you are the "creditor" of my life. Walter dude, I want my CULTURE back, the one you stole (not you of course, but some of your people), I want the IMMORTAL CREATIONS OF MY ANCESTORS, which are found in the museums of Berlin, Munich, London, Paris , Rome! I want it now, now that I may die, but I want to die close to my fathers!
ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ ΣΙΛΙΟΓΚΑΣ ΠΕΣ ΤΑ ΧΥΜΑ ΦΙΛΕ......ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΠΟΣ ΗΡΘΑΝ ΟΙ ΑΛΒΑΝΟΙ ΤΟ 90 ΧΟΡΙΣ ΠΑΠΟΥΤΣΙΑ , ΧΟΡΙΣ ΓΛΟΣΣΑ , ΚΥΝΗΓΙΜΕΝΟΙ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΑΝΤΕΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΚΑΝΑΝ ΠΕΡΙΟΥΣΙΑ , ΛΕΦΤΑ , ΣΥΝΤΑΞΕΙΣ ΕΝΟ ΟΙ ΔΙΚΟΙ ΜΑΣ ΔΕΝ ΒΡΙΣΚΑΝ ΔΟΥΛΙΑ Η ΕΚΑΝΑΝ ΤΟΥΣ ΕΡΓΟΛΑΒΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΩΡΑ ΧΡΟΣΤΑΝΕ ΣΤΙΣ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΕΣ....ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΥΣ Δ.Υ. ΠΟΥ ΕΠΑΙΡΝΑΝ 3000-4000 ΤΟΝ ΜΗΝΑ ΜΙΣΘΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΠΙΔΟΜΑΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΔΕΝ ΔΟΥΛΕΥΑΝ...ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΓΙΑ ΤΑ ΧΕΝΟΔΟΧΕΙΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΡΟΔΟ ΠΟΥ ΔΕΝ ΠΛΗΡΟΝΟΥΝ ΤΗΝ ΔΕΗ ΕΠΕΙΔΗ ΕΧΟΥΝ 60 ΑΤΟΜΑ ΠΡΟΣΟΠΙΚΟ.....ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΝΕΟΛΑΙΑ ΜΑΣ ΠΟΥ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΑΝΕΡΓΗ ΑΛΛΑ ΔΙΑΣΚΕΔΑΖΕΙ 18 ΩΡΕΣ ΤΗΝ ΗΜΕΡΑ...ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΟΤΙ ΟΤΑΝ ΥΠΟΓΡΑΦΑΜΕ ΓΙΑ ΤΑ ΔΑΝΕΙΑ ΕΙΧΑΜΕ ΣΚΑΤΑ ΣΤΑ ΜΑΤΙΑ ΜΑΣ...ΠΕΣ ΤΑ ΟΛΑ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΟΤΙ ΔΕΝ ΦΟΒΟΜΑΣΤΕ ΤΙΠΟΤΑ ΓΙΑΤΗ ΕΧΟΥΜΕ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΟΥΣ ΣΑΝ ΤΟΝ ΒΑΡΟΥΦΑΚΗ.
ὦ παῖδες Ἑλλήνων ἴτε ἐλευθεροῦτε πατρίδ᾽, ἐλευθεροῦτε δὲ παῖδας, γυναῖκας, θεῶν τέ πατρῴων ἕδη, θήκας τε προγόνων: νῦν ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀγών. O sons of the Greeks, go, Liberate your country, liberate Your children, your women, the seats of your fathers' gods, And the tombs of your forebears: now is the struggle for all things.
I like the fast pace, keeps me interested. Keep up the fast talk please. Too many people take 30 min to give me 3 min of info. Luv your site for your fast pace :-) For those who have a problem with the speed, try the re-wind button..lol Awesome job guys. Can't get enough of your site! Greece is a complicated subject. Good initial start on the topic
Excuse me, but since when has Greece been a "fancy pants country"? Before or after the Ottoman enslavement, or after the Macedonian war, the Balkan wars or WW2? The real problem was that Greece was treated as a fancy pants county both by its politicians(and people) and the EU (and the International markets). Greece was never given the much needed time to recover after all these. On the contrary it immediately delved into situations that its economy couldn't handle, and this is not only the Greeks' fault, but the EU's as well.
One cannot compare the USA in 1945 with any other nation in modern economic history. In 1945, the USA was birthing an explosion of new life (the baby boom); and new life always causes first new debt; and subsequently new economic growth. Greece's persistent extinction-level birth rate and its year-on-year declining population of homeowners (i.e. taxable persons) have caused the international bankers to recognize that Greece will never again have enough people to generate the tax revenue required to maintain, let alone repay, the national debt. The international banks will claim to have no choice but to insist on selling off Greece's national assets; i.e. its public services, its lands, and its sea rights, to the bankers' own associates in order that Greece be able to cough up the payments currently required. A clear example must be set to show Italy and Spain what awaits should they fail to maintain their debts.
Young Hegelian It has already come to pass. And it's not automatically a bad thing, what with concern for the planet from a Malthusian perspective. It does play havoc with fiat economies, however, that are entirely based on the assumption of an ever expanding capacity to consume goods and services.
Young Hegelian I expect no shortage of manufactured dialectics linked to the time-proven; problem, reaction, solution approach to mass mind control. Perhaps the one organic 'binary battle' I can identify for you today might be: lies versus hope. Will the lying liars finally kill off hope in the hearts of all those who should know better, and yet continue to hope for something better just the same. Or will hope (and humanity's remaining creativity) be crushed under the weight of the streaming lies piled on us every day by the dirtbags squatting on humanity's collective back? One last thought... Einstein is quoted as having said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and yet expecting different results. He was wrong.
NO one said that Greece's problem started from the US. Because of the greek corrupted political system who invested greek govermental capitals on US CDOs (which is illegal according to our constitution). So when the US bank system failed the problem was transfered to our economy. The combined corruption of the 2 governments was the problem not the amount of work or our spending etc...
Other problems have to do with the way the EE financial system works. EE is politically united but not economically united. The strong countried tried to place the weak countries into quarantine and let them get hit instead of protecting them and stabilize the EE economy. Instead, they helped the economic attaks and made them borrrow money they cant pay back. For example Greece had a depth of arround 100 billion before crisis now it is magically arround 400 billion in just 4 years, so as to absorb a problem that is european not greek. Greece never used 400 billions, these money were logistical tricks to save other countriesc (germany first of all) .
As a greek i am really curious on what is gonna happen in the future when my country wont be able to pay back 400 or 500 or 6000 billions (money we never actually recieved and never used so as to increase our economy and be able to pay them back). These money start from EE and go back to EE, but they remain as a depth ammount on us. This is really strange and looks like a new financial bubble which cant be growing for ever. Worse than the first bubble of the CDOs that bursted in the US in 2008, germany insistance made it worse for all of us
The real problem is Germany. The Germans conned the rest of the EU into joining a common currency, essentially creating pure free trade between the developed industrial economy of Germany the not so developed economies in Spain, Greece, etc. The expensive currency of this union, maintain artificially by the Germans, has further prevented weaker European economies from focusing on exports. No way will any other country take Spain's expensive moderate quality goods when they could have China's cheap low quality goods or Germany's expensive high quality goods. The Germans have shackled Europe like they always wanted, and now whine about the economies they enslaved falling behind in their debt payments. Shameful.
I hope with "The Germans" you mean "the few German politics who made the decision", because a lot of Germans are also not so fond of the Euro, you know. Please be careful with generalizations like that as you make all of us sound like despicable, terrible human beings. I personally have no intentions to ruin other countrys' economies, nor does anyone I know. I am not trying to say that you are wrong, I am just stating that the people who are responsible are just a small percentage of the people you are shaming with your comment. Sincerely, a German and also a mostly kind human being
melody starling it's called media propaganda.when we ask why the goverment agrees to take measures that will hurt both the economy and the poor while providing little benefits the answer the politicians and the media give is:the Germans force us to do it because we need the loan (even though its their own decision)
greece is a dumb country. thats the only problem... you live in the middle of eu. you are getting billions of €€€ from eu. your neighbor is after china the biggest growing country in the world and according to real growth maybe faster then china. but still you somehow manage to get bancrupt and stay bancrupt for decades xD
Greece fudged its budget to enter the Eurozone. This was done in their interest, since they would have access to lower interest rates than by using Dracma. Problem is: they kept spending like there was no tomorrow, and not caring about it, to the point that not even several bailouts from EU and IMF - and public debt haircuts - could save that country. These bailouts are keeping the country afloat, but people only see the downside of having now to reduce government spending. Seriously, Greece in EU is not something that interest Germany or any other country - aside from pension funds and banks that lended money to Greece. It is quite the opposite: if Greece leaves the EU and return to Dracma, their currency will devalue instantly, creating massive inflation and their interest rates will skyrocket, leading to an economic collapse and severe poverty.
Nice video, but you fail to explain why Greece is in finacial debt, you only explain why Greece cant borrow at reasonable rate like other fancy pants countries. I guess 4 minutes isnt enough to expalin this. the simple answer to this is 1, corrupt government 2,minority of corrupt citizens 3,terrible taxing policy (making it easy to avoid taxation) 4, Greece forcing itself into the EU prematurely.
Corrupt country and citizens etc is political view of an economic issue. Also is racist. Do you claim the corrupt politicians and citizens stile the money? If you do you are clueless.
It's quick, intelligent and informative voices like yours that kids like me need to be reaching out to. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to make these videos.
The Greece thing, amazingly, kinda influenced me as a person. I had grown used to the fact that buying things from the states (like comics, which I frequently do) was cheap for me, because buying dollar-stuff when your own currency is Euro was a great thing to do. It isn't anymore. That sucks (for me personally, but also because it sucks for Greece and Europe and the world in gerenal). ^^;;
The IMF is not trying to bailout Greece, employs of the IMF became presidents in Greece and the situation became worse, in fact the whole Euro went down to the price of the dollar from 1.7 dollars because of the whole ordeal. So yeah, the IMF is centralized in the US, the price of the Euro went down to balance itself with the dollar, it smells like corruption to me.
Not bad, but you totally miss the real reason: Greece doesn't have its own currency and thus can't freely issue a currency to meet its debt obligations. It needs its Euro-buddies to that for it. US, Japan, Canada, etc. with their own currencies are free to issue currency to pay their debts. My evidence: Your video is 3 years old and Japan, with the world's biggest fiscal debt, has the lowest bond yield rates.
^ This man speaks the truth. The term "freely" is dubious, but if a nation DOES decide they need to issue bonds in order to create new base money, it is very easy to force your reserve bank to purchase those bonds at very, very low interest rates. Japan is exemplary in the current global state of affairs but the macro-economically illiterate keep either telling us that Japan is financially ruined or are scratching their heads in confusion.
Inflation isn't always bad. Increasing the money supply may lower the value of money, but the increased supply means you can still pay debts in the same dollar amount albeit at a lesser dollar value. ex) If you owe $20 and inflation occurs, by the time you pay it back that $20 might be worth $15. Always good for the debtor. Also, it creates a sense of abundance in the economy, which encourages people to spend more, restoring confidence to the market. Controlled inflation = good in hard times.
vlogbrothers took a very complicated problem with many more facets to it and really failed badly. I doubt that there is a single person in the world who could explain it in 4 minutes.
First of all, Greece WAS NEVER a fancy pants country. Secondly, you have a good standing but that's not the whole story. Greek crisis is much more complicated and has, sadly, little to do with Greece's ability to pay off a debt.
Thanks for your vote of support my friend :-) Its nice to talk to someone who understands the sweep of history, uses correct terminology and knows what they are on about without getting caught up in a 'my country is best' flame war. As we say in Greece, the wheel turns... take care mate.
Pretty sure the reason our GDP grew so much after 1945 was mostly about the fact that Europe was a pile of rocks and all of our factories still worked just fine.
That is not quite accurate. Greece was around 30th biggest economy of the world and somehow the same in PPP (purchasing power parity) per capita before "crisis" where US is around 10th place. Not really such a huge difference unless you think only in Qatar people are rich. Now Greece is 15 spots down. But what he means "fancy pants" is the interest when lending. Since greece joined euro family the interest of greece was one of the lowest in the world at least until 2010!
nada Sorry but that never happened :) Portugal and Greece were always in the same range more or less at least the last 20 years. You may mean the growth of Portugal because at those years it was of the highest in the world (Greece's also).
***** Personally I am in favor with euro. It is the strongest currency in the world right now and it is always nice to have a currency which it cant be pressured in large extent by the markets and compete the dollar. Even the pound in Britain collapsed when the markets put pressure on it from George Soros back in the 90's. When you have so big economies under the same currency then these economies just CANT collapse. If euro collapses then the impact is global. Now where rules have applied euro is stable and if you see the interest rates in eurozone countries (except Greece which is still in the program) they are the lowest in the world (lower than US). The problem is that these rules are not in favor of weak economies and Germany is like the pimp of all the others.
Well, they took on a 'fancy pants' currency to be able to take out loans more cheaply, as the Drachma wasn't particularly strong. Then they spent ridiculous amounts of money that wasn't really theirs without thinking of the long-term consequences.
Raising taxes is a bad idea during a recession, but you get the money to pay down the dept when the economy is good, or to put it simply, when the economy is good, you raise taxes, and when it's not, you don't. That is why there are a few nations which where not hit hard in 2008.
Outrageous benefit programs,absurd health care coverage,absurdly high government wages, all over years of borrowing to support that errored concept, now comes back to haunt the Greeks. This debacle was predicted years ago, as the system in greece was unsustainable. Unions in the government sector in the USA can cause a similar problem, just look at the State of Illinois ; one of many states within the USA facing similar issues, look at what happened in Detroit.
Why in the world does this guy have so many likes on this page??? He didn't explain anything in 4 minutes! I mean look, over 9,500 likes for talking more about America than Greece? He didn't explain: How Greece got in debt, Who their in debt to, How long will take for them to recover, Why their economy is failing and can't recover, Who is responsible for the crisis, ECT.. I mean did anyone get anything out of this video other than him saying "fancy pants countries" over and over again?
Ah the velocity of money theory that you unknowing proved is stupid by demonstrating it's failure in Greece. It is not a failure to lend but the fact that there are no real savings to lend just more government Puffery called fiat money back by nothing and so it is Nothing.
So...in short, they used Keynesian economic policies and collapsed because those policies are totally unrealistic...BUT WAIT IT'S NOT THE FAULT OF ANY ONE POLITICAL IDEOLOGY OH DARN SO CLOSE. This guy is clueless about economics. He just tries to over-complicate it to make it seem like it was just "natural". Normal citizens neither collectively nor individually DECIDE to get themselves into debt. That was the bureaucratic government's fault for promoting special interests over their country, John.
You evidently have no idea what economics is. It's a science. There aren't opinions in a science, Marco. I could say that light travels faster than sound. Any experiments attempting to prove otherwise will fail. Is that my opinion? No. It's a statement that is either correct or incorrect. lol liberals trying to understand economics.
Bloodmoon17 Lol The only thing is: what you posted was not backed by anything close to science. Bravado ad jargon does not turn your opinion into scientific matter. And I have a bit of knowledge on economics and how much of it is based on ideological claims based on personal opinion and lack of knowledge about social sciences in general instead of evidence. In fact, it baffles me how many economists have not a single clue about at least sociology or social psychology, those would be the least on social sciences an economist should know to have the most basic idea of how society actually works. I will not even touch the issue of ideological blindness on epistemology related to economics and ideological propaganda disguised as "truths".
This guy is not so smart...he keeps saying that it is possible to pay back debts. If he knew the concept of fractional reserve banking accompanied with fiat money, he would know that it is impossible to pay back debt in this system. For as soon as a country takes out a loan, you have to pay back that loan with interest. But the money to pay back the interest never existed.
You say that political ideologies have nothing to do with debt but you also didn't endeavor how social security is what screwed over Greece in the first place
Really? Social security? We bought 5 sunken/tilting subs, we paid millions upon millions on corporations, we gave millions to specific businesses that just paid politicians and didn't earn their contracts the normal way, and used overpriced materials that in truth they bought cheaply, and most rich people in Greece use shadow banking and other tactics to avoid paying, even politicians do that(it's crazy! :D). But no dude, it's our health care, or as the other guy said it, the fact that some businesses don't cut receipts. That's what's is killing us.
Alex Hatz I might have a better understanding of your comment if I understood who "we" was. Are you referring to America or Greece (or possibly some other country you must assume I'm apart of)?
you know what fucked greece up.Voting tha same motherfuckers that screwed up everything again and again because they promised an easy life to their voters.And thats a fact
greece, like other eurozone countries, was 'force' to start importing goods from other EU countries and soon most of the greek companies started closing, since they couldn't compete with low prices. the country started to taking loans in order to fill the budget gaps and that brought us here. the fun thing is that the countries that shake their fingers before greece, in the past they didn't say anything, since they were gaining from the situation
Recessions and depressions happen when people try to save more money than they want to invest. The excess saving means money just gets stuck in the banking system, where it isn't being spent because too many people want to save and not enough people want to borrow. This dynamic, which has been going on for years now, essentially the reason why the Fed can create as much monetary base as it likes and it will have 0 effect on inflation or demand or GDP.
From the St Louis Fed: As the sole manufacturer of dollars, whose debt is denominated in dollars, the U.S. government can never become insolvent, i.e., unable to pay its bills.6 In this sense, the government is not dependent on credit markets to remain operational. Moreover, there will always be a market for U.S. government debt at home because the U.S. government has the only means of creating risk-free dollar-denominated assets
The best way to ballance debt isn't cuts, it's growth. What happens when you cut public spending at the same time as the private sector is that workers have less to spend on local goods and services, leading to less demand and so contracts the economy. You end up in a worse position on the balance since tax collected goes down and unemployment goes up.
The total money supply is based on the base amount printed, multiplied by the money multiplier. When the multiplier is low (like it is now) because banks are not lending to each other, you can print quite a lot before any inflational effects are felt. Also, reserve currencies of the world do NOT go through hyperinflaiton because other countries are constantly devaluing their own currencies in order to increase the value of their own vaults, and increase exports to the consumer country (US)
Because if a country defaults on it's loans, it's 'credit rating' ends up terrible. The money it then borrows from international markets can begin to cost far more than is acceptable, and the country ends up having to pay more for the money that it needs to survive. It has been done in the past, but the countries have tended to be financially independant, it involves a re-jig in Import/Export markets and can lead to international difficulties eg Iceland caused runs on UK banks.
The basic point is that when S-I>NX+BD, a recession results. That happens when everyone (the aggregate of households & firms) are trying to save more than they earn. Saving and borrowing don't respond to the interest rate (ZLB). That's why QE is irrelevant. Monetary policy was useful in ending the credit crunch, which was good, but the problem then is lack of demand for lending. Monetary base never becomes money. Inflation: food and fuel prices are volatile; core inflation is a better measure.
I wouldn't exactly call the entirety of Western Europe as a fancy-pants country, but, um, yay, pants! -I'm not wearing pants because I'm in bed with a blanket and I smell banana bread and I'm kind of dying-
I would like to say, as a school project I had to adjust government spending, I ended up with a -0.6 trillion dollar deficit, (600 Billion surplus) per year, the military was downsized by 40 percent, yet military research was increased by 20, of course Social Security was discontinued, but research was up, taxes raised minimally and tax breaks removed. So really, if a High Schooler can do it, maybe it isn't that hard, or I just didn't think of the consequences.
Also, in order to apply accounting FORMALLY, within the company (i.e. to do the FINANCIAL REPORTING which includes to CONSTRUCT the balance sheet) you need to be certified/chartered accountant which takes around 3 years to complete, if I remember well. So, no you cannot be a "better paid secretary" unless you are breaking the law and not complying the GAAP and IFRS.
I'm sorry for breaking the intelligent speech below, but I feel the urge to say this... That unicorn pinata is the most amazing thing I have seen ALL day.
I agree, but it sure is a very underhanded way of generating more money. If Greece used, say, gold, which you can't really make more of, they would have to make money through "normal ways" such as trade.
The economic state of Greece was NOT screwed years ago but at the early '00s (that when we entered EU and change our currency to euro. We did not lie, quite the opposite. The euro destroyed started to destroy Greece. Why? because of the transition and the response from Germany saying "we will help the Greek economy if it goes that low with loans" (but they added later the condition to NOT be able to take a loan from elsewhere, thus germany loaned us money with high pay-back rates).
My father happens to own a small company and have been receiving projects from the government the past 5 years he was being paid through greek bonds. And now hes BALANCE SHEET shows negative NET INCOME and he had to fire people in order to keep the company alive and keep the jobs of the rest of the people within the company. Believe me the truth is much different than the one you hear or read from the media....
P.S I am not a Tea Bagger, I am just an Economics student from the States studying in Victoria, BC that has an economics professor. with a heavy (William Wallace) accent that does not understand why the USA's banking system allows a privatized Central Bank. I thought the Fed was supposed to stabilize our economy and since it has been in place, we have been an economic roller coast. I don't expect you to have the answer, but I feel you will respond with the right questions
Evoking the Greek debt without ever using the words "Goldman Sachs", or the "sovereign debt" without the "FED" and "ECB" acronyms, is like explaining daylight without never mentioning the sun.
i agree with nearly everything you said, except when you said that excess savings necessarily leads to recession, because people can still borrow from banks instead of getting investors. However, if banks cut off credit the way they have since 2008 (as investors also go down due to savings), then that money is permanently cut off, the money multiplier drops, & inflation rises more slowly as you stated. Price inflation's still rising fairly quickly though despite the CPI. Just go grocery shopping
He made this video in 2010...for the record every single Greece bailout has just kicked the can down the road. The default has to happen to restore competitiveness
Maybe, but a bit simple explanation. Here are some other reasons: 1) Bretton-Woods agreement, 2) High aggregate demand due to war/govnt fiscal and welfare policies, 3) High real wage levels and relatively(!) egalitarian distribution of growth, 4) Boom in manufacturing across the western world, including Germany, UK, Scandinavia, Japan as well as the US, often boosted by US aid in the immediate post-war years.
Although this does apply to some, not all Greeks are like this. As Citizens and people we still can survive (financially) despite our country. The problem is only now (after 2 years of excessive taxes and reduced economical activity) starting to show.
''The saving rate in northern Europe remains higher than in the south. The political systems in the south are still characterized by corruption, instability, and narrow interest politics rather than broad national responsibility. Weber also believed the work ethic to be stronger in the north. It is interesting that around 60 percent of Scandinavians state that they are proud of their job, compared to 30 percent of Italians and merely 15 percent of the French.''
Debt is also bad when it is consumed rather than invested to increase the production of goods. Increasing production of goods will increase economic growth & wealth but consumption will not.
Re: Raising taxes in a recession. Quick quiz. A country was in depression and had never looked worse... The symptoms were hyperdeflation, high wealth inequality, and massive unemployment. The government passed the largest tax increase in history on the highest tax bracket; about 150% increase on the top nominal rate. What happened? A: It was US in 1932 and the country went from double-digit GPD percent down to double-digit up within about 18 months. We also survived the 1935 Coup attempt.
1) Loans: German and French banks were giving loans to greek governments in order to bankrupt them 10 or 20 years later. Why would a bank want the borrower to go bankrupt? The answer is only one. A bank would want that only if the property of the borrower exceeds the value of the loan. That is the case for Greece. German banks KNEW that Greece would go bankrupt. So, they wait now, for everything to devalue and buy everything that Greece has with 1/10th of the price.
In Europe, there are two main groups of countries: there are frugal countries such as Germany and the Netherlands that try to get into as little debt as possible and there are the countries like Greece and Spain that spend A LOT of money. In order to pay off their debt they simply print more money. Kinda cheating, but it works. However, with the arrival of the Euro, a common currency throughout most of Europe, it is really not easy to print more money like Greece could do before.
King Otto of Greece was Bavarian , British parliament did not fund the Greek revolution as the gov of the day supported the Ottomans seeing them as a counter balance against Russia, It was private citizens who acted often in defiance of their own gov in joining & giving material support to the Greeks in 1821, Most Phil-Hellenes were adventurous neo-classical romanticist like Lord Byron.
You miss some VERY important points. Yes, our debt to GDP was high during WWII, and we had a huge turn around immediately after, but only because WE STOPPED GOING INTO DEBT. It was the paying off of the debt that made the economy improve, not the going into debt. The more we go into debt, the more we have to pay on interest, which is an unproductive expenditure. The more money we can spend on productive expenditures, the more productive we will be. This ain't rocket science.
I liked how he said "...the only other way to shrink the deficit would be to raise taxes, which is not usually seen as a good idea in a recession." And he's completely right. If you were to take 100% of the income of everyone making over 1million dollars a year, you wouldn't even be able to pay off 1/3 of our total debt. That's not even as mush as Obama added in one term. So obviously, taxing the rich excessively is like beating a dead horse, it might feel good but it won't get you anywhere.
Hello. I am just commenting to throw out how reliant the entire world is on our natural capital and its subtle yet extremely obvious natural services. Despite political allegiance or nationality, each one of us is dependent on what our natural world can provide us. Every good that is produced is a product of some sort of element within nature. This all may be redundant but perhaps Vlogbrothers should at least touch on the consequences of social normality and its affect on human behavior which inevitably draws off of what we can exploit from what we call "natural capital". Maybe if we valued the integrity of our natural world that ultimately sustains our biology we could have peace, harmony, and health between all forms of life on Earth. Vlogbrothers does a great job of touching on socially important issues going on around the world and I hope this comment reaches their eyes. Thanks so much for reading. Best wishes. Sam
There is a slight problem with this video, Greece's interest rate went down when they joined the Euro. Pre Euro Greece had a higher rate of borrowing so when there borrowing rate went down they went a little spend crazy.
People fail to understand that Greece isn't the cause, but a symptom that shows the euro as a currency is undergoing a major crisis.And they say that we're lazy so they'll have an excuse to first salvage as much money as possible,and then throw us out of the Eurozone so the rest of it can keep functioning.My point is don't accuse us because your country might be the next one to be blamed for the bad economy.
pretty much one point to it. That Greece cant pay back its debts because they overspent somehow but idk if i missed that part or its not in there. And because of that other countries aren't gonna loan which means money can't move in bulkier volumes throughout the country. One way most fix this is often by decreasing interest and allow banks to be able to have a bigger extension in credit but that causes issues in how much they actually have so if most havent caught on then maybe make more credit and have some sort of allience where u sign a contract for what happens when it gets better. Get a loan from one country pay off current debt then start contract. decrease interest. Increase government spending to pump money in to the economy. Find a way to decrease spending outside country like chinas no overseas investment laws etc and help make businesses grow. Maybe im making it sound too easy lol its always more complicated these days and most of these things take time.
When you print money the value of said money goes down. This can be good, and bad. Here for example the govt had to print money to stop the NZ dollar from rising so close to the USD because it was killing our exports (before we could ship stuff to the US where it was a bargain, yet it would be a decent bit of money here, but when the NZD rose above the USD suddenly that no longer stood true). At the same time it can be bad, in Zimbabwe people's money devalues a lot before they can spend it.
Wrong. It is a political problem, EuroStat warned multiple times that Greece should never have been allowed to join. The European Parliament granted membership anyway because it showed European unity. The crisis was financial in nature, but underlying its cause is economic ignorance from politicians.
FIAT money has a value because of trust. We as a country trust that a dollar is worth a dollar. However, if we print more money, the supply increases and inflation can occur thus lowering the value of a dollar and diminishing our trust in that value. This is one reason why prices go up. Printing more money is a step but not a solution. If it was, we wouldn't be over 14 trillion in debt.
The question is how, why and who decided that Greece can't pay back its debts? Somehow the economic crisis that we are living in this country is "artificial", but the effects are real. Unfortunately.
only problem being when the "stimulus" goes on indefinitely, which makes the currency worthless because the only two options are default and inflation... . but anyway, you did state the Keynesian position well. fingers crossed that growth shrinks the debt to GDP gap before everyone stops buying bonds right?...
Love how you broke it down in four minutes... While saying that... There is not enough information how they became bankrupt... Yeah... Over spending... Over spending on what??? I'm very curious... but you know discussions like this are hard to find out what the problem is... I have read a thousand articles and million UA-cam video and these sources don't sound to connived they know what their even talking about. They throw out facts, talk to some Greeks but no news feed has a clear conclusion
My poli-sci professor showed this in lecture yesterday, and I gasped because we were watching the Vlogbrothers in class!
"Unless he is Donald Trump" Stan, can I get the foreshadow filter?
Benjamin Hansberry especially now.
Yeah.... think he was warning us ? Lol
@TheIrie One he isn't rich. He's wealthy. And that's because he's a liar, and his legacy is built on corrupt intent.
Just wait until you get to 2020.
TheIrie One
That’s exactly what this video says! You can get rich if you’re already rich even if you’re stupid.
Remember back when Donald Trump was just a joke within America rather than a joke at the expense of America
Gnomelord0 oh my god, you have no idea how much that made me laugh.
Strange, now we're doing better than ever under his presidency
@@chillbrobraggins383 Bwahahahahaha... Thanks for the laugh...
ChillBro Braggins
I would say
How do you mean?
but I don’t know enough about politics to argue against any claim you make and I honestly trust no one, not even nerdfighters, to have a civil debate about trump over the internet.
But do, if you feel inclined, enlighten me.
@Vladimir makarov lol what is it just the us in lockdown? Its the entire world and yeah, btw. Of the uk, italy, france and spain they have double the amount of cases per capita so yeah, we're not doing so bad, idiot.
John, it's 2019, and there's nothing to click for the secret project
a nation of ruins, in ruins
John oliver
LOL at the donald trump thing
"It's kind of everyone's fault."
...And maybe it's also the fault in our stars.
To Europe…
The state of the Greek economy today is with no doubt a product of our behaviour as Greek citizens and our corrupt politicians… For thousands of years Greek leaders have gone down in history as leaders who saved and preserved our nation. These guys are going down as the ones who just sold it to Siemens…Indulge if you will and you will understand what I am trying to say.
Let us list only a few projects involving various of our European ‘friends’..
Athens airport ‘Eleftherios Venizelos’ and Attiki odos, the road leading to the airport. One of our European friends making huge profits out of these projects is HOCHTIEF (Germany). To mention one.
How about the Athens Metro construction/management. Was the UK company VINCI not involved in this project? This is some of the tubes’ rolling stock:
• 28 six-car electric multiple units made by Alstom-Siemens-ADtranz (2000 France, Germany)
• Four service hybrid locomotives made by Kaelble-Gmeinder-Siemens (Germany)
• One rail-road Unimog (Germany)
The Rio-Antirrio bridge in central Greece, a superb and expensive structure, was constructed by Advitam (France).
Now…come to think of it all these public works sort of started when we were given the Olympic games of 2004!?? And here I have to laugh with the phrase ‘we were given’ for very obvious reasons. The Executive Board of the International Olympic committee gave us (lol) the Olympics while knowing we were seriously unequipped to handle the enormity of what the event has now become.. Why?
Germany lent us money and then sold us a few submarines… Tilting submarines by the way. This is a link to the article ‘The Submarine Deals That Helped Sink Greece’ in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, by Christopher Rhoads: online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703636404575352991108208712.html
Now let us get back to our very very corrupt politicians… Was the fact that these guys were receiving huge ‘favours’ from Siemens ever in the news in the rest of Europe? Was an €885 million profit Siemens made from dealings with OTE, our National Telecommunications Company ever mentioned anywhere?? Why were extortionate terms of the Siemens-OTE deal accepted by these politicians? For the interested: www.scribd.com/doc/14433472/Siemens-Scandal-Siemens-Hellas
Are the dots starting to connect yet?
I am not forgetting the first reason I mentioned as a factor leading to what Greece is today; our behaviour as citizens. You are right in anything you say for the majority of citizens. I have a question regarding this, though. Why is it that the Ministry of Education, a few years ago, decided to stop teaching pupils things like how the constitution of our country can or can’t change and subjects like Macro-economy (inflation, unemployment, economic cycles, budget, gross domestic product..)? Why?
And now back to money, as this is a financial and not political game. Greek people in the streets are demonstrating against the ‘financial Attila’ that is taking over Europe.
Recently, German Journalist Walter Wuellenweber wrote a piece on what expensive friends we are... I’ve translated part of the answer he received by a Greek citizen, George P. Psomas, published in the German journal Stern and referring to the €200 billion borrowed by Greece:
“Well, Walter, over half a century has elapsed since the end of World War II. Since Germany should have taken care of its obligations towards Greece.
These debts, which only Germany refused to repay to Greece (Bulgaria and Romania have already arranged their respective obligations), consist of:
a) Debts of 80 million DM from the First World War.
b) Debts from the ‘clearing’ difference in the interwar period, totalling $ 593,873,000, which was ruled against Germany.
c) The forced loan deals the Third Reich made with Greece, amounting to 3.5 billion U.S. dollars, during the occupation.
d) The damages resulting from seizing, looting and destruction that took place during the Third Reich occupation period, amounting to 7.1 billion U.S. dollars, as ruled by the Allies.
e) The incalculable obligations of Germany for ending of 1,125,960 Greek lives (38.960 executed, 12,000 dead from stray bullets, 70,000 killed in battle, 105,000 dead in the camps in Germany, 600,000 deaths from starvation and 300,000 of losses from low birth rates).
f) The priceless moral insult towards the Greek people and towards the humanitarian ideas expressed by the Greek idea. This problem is not financial, it is of an ethical nature; the ethics of highest moral.
I know Walter, you are disturbed by what I write, but I was disturbed too by what you wrote! But what bothers me more are the things you think and want to do for me and your 'compatriots', the Greeks!
Walter, beloved Walter, 130 German companies operate in Greece, including almost all German giants and they accomplish an annual turnover of 6.5 billion.
You know Walter, soon I won’t be able to buy German products, because I won’t have money. Walter, I grew up with very little and I will be able to bear this.. And do not worry about the young people in Greece. There are still many old folk around to help them adapt to the new situation. But..Walter, dude, how are you going to deal with your unemployed, resulting from the situation you have created in Greece?
Tell me please. I wonder: we Greeks have to leave Europe, the Eurozone (and from wherever else you want us to Germans, Swedes, Dutch and other 'compatriots’). We must go to save ourselves from a Union in appearance. From a group of speculators. From a team in which we are team mates, but only when consuming the products of our other team mates!
I, beloved Walter, believe that Greeks should stop buying Mercedes, BMW, Opel, Ford, Scoda, allied products, etc., They cannot and should not! ... Not worth it. They must stop shopping from Lidl, Praktiker and IKEA. Because they won’t be able to buy these products anymore bro; what can we do?
Beloved Walter we should also arrange some other "details". If I have your permission, of course, as you are the "creditor" of my life. Walter dude, I want my CULTURE back, the one you stole (not you of course, but some of your people), I want the IMMORTAL CREATIONS OF MY ANCESTORS, which are found in the museums of Berlin, Munich, London, Paris , Rome! I want it now, now that I may die, but I want to die close to my fathers!
ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ ΣΙΛΙΟΓΚΑΣ ΠΕΣ ΤΑ ΧΥΜΑ ΦΙΛΕ......ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΠΟΣ ΗΡΘΑΝ ΟΙ ΑΛΒΑΝΟΙ ΤΟ 90 ΧΟΡΙΣ ΠΑΠΟΥΤΣΙΑ , ΧΟΡΙΣ ΓΛΟΣΣΑ , ΚΥΝΗΓΙΜΕΝΟΙ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΑΝΤΕΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΚΑΝΑΝ ΠΕΡΙΟΥΣΙΑ , ΛΕΦΤΑ , ΣΥΝΤΑΞΕΙΣ ΕΝΟ ΟΙ ΔΙΚΟΙ ΜΑΣ ΔΕΝ ΒΡΙΣΚΑΝ ΔΟΥΛΙΑ Η ΕΚΑΝΑΝ ΤΟΥΣ ΕΡΓΟΛΑΒΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΩΡΑ ΧΡΟΣΤΑΝΕ ΣΤΙΣ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΕΣ....ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΥΣ Δ.Υ. ΠΟΥ ΕΠΑΙΡΝΑΝ 3000-4000 ΤΟΝ ΜΗΝΑ ΜΙΣΘΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΠΙΔΟΜΑΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΔΕΝ ΔΟΥΛΕΥΑΝ...ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΓΙΑ ΤΑ ΧΕΝΟΔΟΧΕΙΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΡΟΔΟ ΠΟΥ ΔΕΝ ΠΛΗΡΟΝΟΥΝ ΤΗΝ ΔΕΗ ΕΠΕΙΔΗ ΕΧΟΥΝ 60 ΑΤΟΜΑ ΠΡΟΣΟΠΙΚΟ.....ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΝΕΟΛΑΙΑ ΜΑΣ ΠΟΥ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΑΝΕΡΓΗ ΑΛΛΑ ΔΙΑΣΚΕΔΑΖΕΙ 18 ΩΡΕΣ ΤΗΝ ΗΜΕΡΑ...ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΟΤΙ ΟΤΑΝ ΥΠΟΓΡΑΦΑΜΕ ΓΙΑ ΤΑ ΔΑΝΕΙΑ ΕΙΧΑΜΕ ΣΚΑΤΑ ΣΤΑ ΜΑΤΙΑ ΜΑΣ...ΠΕΣ ΤΑ ΟΛΑ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΠΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΟΤΙ ΔΕΝ ΦΟΒΟΜΑΣΤΕ ΤΙΠΟΤΑ ΓΙΑΤΗ ΕΧΟΥΜΕ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΟΥΣ ΣΑΝ ΤΟΝ ΒΑΡΟΥΦΑΚΗ.
+ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ ΣΙΛΙΟΓΚΑΣ I understand you brother , we're in the same sh*t,greetings from Romania!
ὦ παῖδες Ἑλλήνων ἴτε
ἐλευθεροῦτε πατρίδ᾽, ἐλευθεροῦτε δὲ
παῖδας, γυναῖκας, θεῶν τέ πατρῴων ἕδη,
θήκας τε προγόνων: νῦν ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀγών.
O sons of the Greeks, go,
Liberate your country, liberate
Your children, your women, the seats of your fathers' gods,
And the tombs of your forebears: now is the struggle for all things.
+ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ ΣΙΛΙΟΓΚΑΣ Lets join Balcanic Resistance !
I just love it when John talks about stuff I already know/understand, it makes me feel so clever and worldly!
I like the fast pace, keeps me interested. Keep up the fast talk please. Too many people take 30 min to give me 3 min of info. Luv your site for your fast pace :-)
For those who have a problem with the speed, try the re-wind button..lol
Awesome job guys. Can't get enough of your site!
Greece is a complicated subject. Good initial start on the topic
Excuse me, but since when has Greece been a "fancy pants country"? Before or after the Ottoman enslavement, or after the Macedonian war, the Balkan wars or WW2? The real problem was that Greece was treated as a fancy pants county both by its politicians(and people) and the EU (and the International markets). Greece was never given the much needed time to recover after all these. On the contrary it immediately delved into situations that its economy couldn't handle, and this is not only the Greeks' fault, but the EU's as well.
One cannot compare the USA in 1945 with any other nation in modern economic history. In 1945, the USA was birthing an explosion of new life (the baby boom); and new life always causes first new debt; and subsequently new economic growth. Greece's persistent extinction-level birth rate and its year-on-year declining population of homeowners (i.e. taxable persons) have caused the international bankers to recognize that Greece will never again have enough people to generate the tax revenue required to maintain, let alone repay, the national debt. The international banks will claim to have no choice but to insist on selling off Greece's national assets; i.e. its public services, its lands, and its sea rights, to the bankers' own associates in order that Greece be able to cough up the payments currently required. A clear example must be set to show Italy and Spain what awaits should they fail to maintain their debts.
GCNavigator What's to happen when the collective human species loses the ability to produce a net gain in population?
Young Hegelian It has already come to pass. And it's not automatically a bad thing, what with concern for the planet from a Malthusian perspective. It does play havoc with fiat economies, however, that are entirely based on the assumption of an ever expanding capacity to consume goods and services.
GCNavigator Your prediction of the unfolding dialectic?
Young Hegelian I expect no shortage of manufactured dialectics linked to the time-proven; problem, reaction, solution approach to mass mind control. Perhaps the one organic 'binary battle' I can identify for you today might be: lies versus hope. Will the lying liars finally kill off hope in the hearts of all those who should know better, and yet continue to hope for something better just the same. Or will hope (and humanity's remaining creativity) be crushed under the weight of the streaming lies piled on us every day by the dirtbags squatting on humanity's collective back? One last thought... Einstein is quoted as having said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and yet expecting different results. He was wrong.
Also in 1945 the USA was the only country that wasn't completely destroy
"As you can see Hank, it's a circle", POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP EVERYBODY (and a massive sadface for Greece).
OH MY... I did a project 2 years ago on the Greek Debt Crisis and watched this video... I thought John was crazy.
I'm glad I came back :3
NO one said that Greece's problem started from the US. Because of the greek corrupted political system who invested greek govermental capitals on US CDOs (which is illegal according to our constitution). So when the US bank system failed the problem was transfered to our economy. The combined corruption of the 2 governments was the problem not the amount of work or our spending etc...
Other problems have to do with the way the EE financial system works. EE is politically united but not economically united. The strong countried tried to place the weak countries into quarantine and let them get hit instead of protecting them and stabilize the EE economy. Instead, they helped the economic attaks and made them borrrow money they cant pay back. For example Greece had a depth of arround 100 billion before crisis now it is magically arround 400 billion in just 4 years, so as to absorb a problem that is european not greek. Greece never used 400 billions, these money were logistical tricks to save other countriesc (germany first of all) .
As a greek i am really curious on what is gonna happen in the future when my country wont be able to pay back 400 or 500 or 6000 billions (money we never actually recieved and never used so as to increase our economy and be able to pay them back). These money start from EE and go back to EE, but they remain as a depth ammount on us. This is really strange and looks like a new financial bubble which cant be growing for ever. Worse than the first bubble of the CDOs that bursted in the US in 2008, germany insistance made it worse for all of us
Dude, you didn't touch on the Greek economy
The real problem is Germany. The Germans conned the rest of the EU into joining a common currency, essentially creating pure free trade between the developed industrial economy of Germany the not so developed economies in Spain, Greece, etc. The expensive currency of this union, maintain artificially by the Germans, has further prevented weaker European economies from focusing on exports. No way will any other country take Spain's expensive moderate quality goods when they could have China's cheap low quality goods or Germany's expensive high quality goods.
The Germans have shackled Europe like they always wanted, and now whine about the economies they enslaved falling behind in their debt payments. Shameful.
I hope with "The Germans" you mean "the few German politics who made the decision", because a lot of Germans are also not so fond of the Euro, you know. Please be careful with generalizations like that as you make all of us sound like despicable, terrible human beings. I personally have no intentions to ruin other countrys' economies, nor does anyone I know. I am not trying to say that you are wrong, I am just stating that the people who are responsible are just a small percentage of the people you are shaming with your comment.
Sincerely, a German and also a mostly kind human being
Ah, how great is it just to live in a nation in the EU with high social security AND without the Euro. #scandinavia
melody starling it's called media propaganda.when we ask why the goverment agrees to take measures that will hurt both the economy and the poor while providing little benefits the answer the politicians and the media give is:the Germans force us to do it because we need the loan (even though its their own decision)
greece is a dumb country. thats the only problem... you live in the middle of eu. you are getting billions of €€€ from eu. your neighbor is after china the biggest growing country in the world and according to real growth maybe faster then china. but still you somehow manage to get bancrupt and stay bancrupt for decades xD
Greece fudged its budget to enter the Eurozone.
This was done in their interest, since they would have access to lower interest rates than by using Dracma.
Problem is: they kept spending like there was no tomorrow, and not caring about it, to the point that not even several bailouts from EU and IMF - and public debt haircuts - could save that country.
These bailouts are keeping the country afloat, but people only see the downside of having now to reduce government spending.
Seriously, Greece in EU is not something that interest Germany or any other country - aside from pension funds and banks that lended money to Greece. It is quite the opposite: if Greece leaves the EU and return to Dracma, their currency will devalue instantly, creating massive inflation and their interest rates will skyrocket, leading to an economic collapse and severe poverty.
Nice video, but you fail to explain why Greece is in finacial debt, you only explain why Greece cant borrow at reasonable rate like other fancy pants countries. I guess 4 minutes isnt enough to expalin this. the simple answer to this is 1, corrupt government 2,minority of corrupt citizens 3,terrible taxing policy (making it easy to avoid taxation) 4, Greece forcing itself into the EU prematurely.
Corrupt country and citizens etc is political view of an economic issue. Also is racist. Do you claim the corrupt politicians and citizens stile the money? If you do you are clueless.
I feel that i will be obsessed with this channel, because it hits the most interesting topics(for many of them i had no opinion). Soo cool!
It's quick, intelligent and informative voices like yours that kids like me need to be reaching out to. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to make these videos.
The Greece thing, amazingly, kinda influenced me as a person. I had grown used to the fact that buying things from the states (like comics, which I frequently do) was cheap for me, because buying dollar-stuff when your own currency is Euro was a great thing to do. It isn't anymore. That sucks (for me personally, but also because it sucks for Greece and Europe and the world in gerenal). ^^;;
The IMF is not trying to bailout Greece, employs of the IMF became presidents in Greece and the situation became worse, in fact the whole Euro went down to the price of the dollar from 1.7 dollars because of the whole ordeal. So yeah, the IMF is centralized in the US, the price of the Euro went down to balance itself with the dollar, it smells like corruption to me.
Not bad, but you totally miss the real reason: Greece doesn't have its own currency and thus can't freely issue a currency to meet its debt obligations. It needs its Euro-buddies to that for it. US, Japan, Canada, etc. with their own currencies are free to issue currency to
pay their debts. My evidence: Your video is 3 years old and Japan, with the world's biggest fiscal debt, has the lowest bond yield rates.
^ This man speaks the truth. The term "freely" is dubious, but if a nation DOES decide they need to issue bonds in order to create new base money, it is very easy to force your reserve bank to purchase those bonds at very, very low interest rates. Japan is exemplary in the current global state of affairs but the macro-economically illiterate keep either telling us that Japan is financially ruined or are scratching their heads in confusion.
Inflation isn't always bad. Increasing the money supply may lower the value of money, but the increased supply means you can still pay debts in the same dollar amount albeit at a lesser dollar value. ex) If you owe $20 and inflation occurs, by the time you pay it back that $20 might be worth $15. Always good for the debtor. Also, it creates a sense of abundance in the economy, which encourages people to spend more, restoring confidence to the market. Controlled inflation = good in hard times.
My students LOVED your video! They enjoyed your energy and humor.
vlogbrothers took a very complicated problem with many more facets to it and really failed badly. I doubt that there is a single person in the world who could explain it in 4 minutes.
Best Statement "You have to be an idiot not to stay rich, but need to be smart to get rich."
First of all, Greece WAS NEVER a fancy pants country. Secondly, you have a good standing but that's not the whole story. Greek crisis is much more complicated and has, sadly, little to do with Greece's ability to pay off a debt.
Never fancy? The Byzantines would like to have a word with you.
You make alexander the great sad. Are u happy?
We are talking about modern history smartasses .
Thanks for your vote of support my friend :-) Its nice to talk to someone who understands the sweep of history, uses correct terminology and knows what they are on about without getting caught up in a 'my country is best' flame war. As we say in Greece, the wheel turns... take care mate.
Pretty sure the reason our GDP grew so much after 1945 was mostly about the fact that Europe was a pile of rocks and all of our factories still worked just fine.
maybe Trump should be running for president in Greece.
thats actually a good idea
maybe trump is the next american president so he is kinda busy idk.
michael papadopoulos I posted that 4 months ago.
Akumu74 i know.. it was a joke ( a bad one too )
There was, and is, nothing "fancy pants" about Greece. They were poor before the debt crisis and even poorer afterwards.
That is not quite accurate. Greece was around 30th biggest economy of the world and somehow the same in PPP (purchasing power parity) per capita before "crisis" where US is around 10th place. Not really such a huge difference unless you think only in Qatar people are rich. Now Greece is 15 spots down. But what he means "fancy pants" is the interest when lending. Since greece joined euro family the interest of greece was one of the lowest in the world at least until 2010!
smernakias Bro, Portugal was in 12th or 13th biggest economy in 2000-2002, and now we are at 45th lol, so funny... NOT
nada Sorry but that never happened :) Portugal and Greece were always in the same range more or less at least the last 20 years. You may mean the growth of Portugal because at those years it was of the highest in the world (Greece's also).
***** Personally I am in favor with euro. It is the strongest currency in the world right now and it is always nice to have a currency which it cant be pressured in large extent by the markets and compete the dollar. Even the pound in Britain collapsed when the markets put pressure on it from George Soros back in the 90's. When you have so big economies under the same currency then these economies just CANT collapse. If euro collapses then the impact is global. Now where rules have applied euro is stable and if you see the interest rates in eurozone countries (except Greece which is still in the program) they are the lowest in the world (lower than US). The problem is that these rules are not in favor of weak economies and Germany is like the pimp of all the others.
Well, they took on a 'fancy pants' currency to be able to take out loans more cheaply, as the Drachma wasn't particularly strong. Then they spent ridiculous amounts of money that wasn't really theirs without thinking of the long-term consequences.
This is already over 4 years ago?
+Ramy Hmaid and dept has reached 480 billion
9 years ago
Every second was just packed with useful info, thanks for clarifying it all o.O nicely compiled
Raising taxes is a bad idea during a recession, but you get the money to pay down the dept when the economy is good, or to put it simply, when the economy is good, you raise taxes, and when it's not, you don't. That is why there are a few nations which where not hit hard in 2008.
Do the opposite the western ''schools'' of economics tell you !!!
exept all economic schools are western
Outrageous benefit programs,absurd health care coverage,absurdly high government wages, all over years of borrowing to support that errored concept, now comes back to haunt the Greeks. This debacle was predicted years ago, as the system in greece was unsustainable. Unions in the government sector in the USA can cause a similar problem, just look at the State of Illinois ; one of many states within the USA facing similar issues, look at what happened in Detroit.
Why in the world does this guy have so many likes on this page??? He didn't explain anything in 4 minutes! I mean look, over 9,500 likes for talking more about America than Greece?
He didn't explain:
How Greece got in debt, Who their in debt to, How long will take for them to recover, Why their economy is failing and can't recover, Who is responsible for the crisis, ECT..
I mean did anyone get anything out of this video other than him saying "fancy pants countries" over and over again?
cdxltube ITS OVER 9000!!!
Thanks, didn't think of that one, would have saved me along time in disputing his points about German Hyperinflation.
Nice video... for someone who has no clue on how economic systems work...
Ah the velocity of money theory that you unknowing proved is stupid by demonstrating it's failure in Greece. It is not a failure to lend but the fact that there are no real savings to lend just more government Puffery called fiat money back by nothing and so it is Nothing.
So...in short, they used Keynesian economic policies and collapsed because those policies are totally unrealistic...BUT WAIT IT'S NOT THE FAULT OF ANY ONE POLITICAL IDEOLOGY OH DARN SO CLOSE. This guy is clueless about economics. He just tries to over-complicate it to make it seem like it was just "natural". Normal citizens neither collectively nor individually DECIDE to get themselves into debt. That was the bureaucratic government's fault for promoting special interests over their country, John.
No.
Oh. He said no. It's okay now. Mathematical laws of the universe have changed because he said "no". lol what if I said "yes"?
Bloodmoon17 I would say "no" again. lol And there's no "mathematical laws" involved on the subject. It's just your opinion, so "no" suffices. xD
You evidently have no idea what economics is. It's a science. There aren't opinions in a science, Marco. I could say that light travels faster than sound. Any experiments attempting to prove otherwise will fail. Is that my opinion? No. It's a statement that is either correct or incorrect. lol liberals trying to understand economics.
Bloodmoon17 Lol The only thing is: what you posted was not backed by anything close to science. Bravado ad jargon does not turn your opinion into scientific matter. And I have a bit of knowledge on economics and how much of it is based on ideological claims based on personal opinion and lack of knowledge about social sciences in general instead of evidence. In fact, it baffles me how many economists have not a single clue about at least sociology or social psychology, those would be the least on social sciences an economist should know to have the most basic idea of how society actually works. I will not even touch the issue of ideological blindness on epistemology related to economics and ideological propaganda disguised as "truths".
This guy is not so smart...he keeps saying that it is possible to pay back debts. If he knew the concept of fractional reserve banking accompanied with fiat money, he would know that it is impossible to pay back debt in this system. For as soon as a country takes out a loan, you have to pay back that loan with interest. But the money to pay back the interest never existed.
He is not trying to be funny. He is trying to explain the Greek financial crisis to his brother. Keep up.
You say that political ideologies have nothing to do with debt but you also didn't endeavor how social security is what screwed over Greece in the first place
Really? Social security? We bought 5 sunken/tilting subs, we paid millions upon millions on corporations, we gave millions to specific businesses that just paid politicians and didn't earn their contracts the normal way, and used overpriced materials that in truth they bought cheaply, and most rich people in Greece use shadow banking and other tactics to avoid paying, even politicians do that(it's crazy! :D). But no dude, it's our health care, or as the other guy said it, the fact that some businesses don't cut receipts. That's what's is killing us.
Alex Hatz I might have a better understanding of your comment if I understood who "we" was. Are you referring to America or Greece (or possibly some other country you must assume I'm apart of)?
you know what fucked greece up.Voting tha same motherfuckers that screwed up everything again and again because they promised an easy life to their voters.And thats a fact
RAWR & Pupatin That too but it's an oversimplification. Though it's true that if you look at Greek politics from 80's till now you see the same names.
John, I think you take Keynesian economics too far, just my opinion.
The problem of Europe is not Greece, is Germany.
NasMan Of course it's Greece!pay debts!
You're ignorant.
***** Don't forget the USA.
Fancy Pants. :P
greece, like other eurozone countries, was 'force' to start importing goods from other EU countries and soon most of the greek companies started closing, since they couldn't compete with low prices. the country started to taking loans in order to fill the budget gaps and that brought us here. the fun thing is that the countries that shake their fingers before greece, in the past they didn't say anything, since they were gaining from the situation
Recessions and depressions happen when people try to save more money than they want to invest. The excess saving means money just gets stuck in the banking system, where it isn't being spent because too many people want to save and not enough people want to borrow. This dynamic, which has been going on for years now, essentially the reason why the Fed can create as much monetary base as it likes and it will have 0 effect on inflation or demand or GDP.
Donald Trump in all his bankruptcies never got poor. His genius is that he makes sure it's other people who get poor when he does stupid things.
Donald Trump = the mongols, first thing i thought
From the St Louis Fed: As the sole manufacturer of dollars, whose debt is denominated in dollars, the U.S. government can never become insolvent, i.e., unable to pay its bills.6 In this sense, the government is not dependent on credit markets to remain operational. Moreover, there will always be a market for U.S. government debt at home because the U.S. government has the only means of creating risk-free dollar-denominated assets
The best way to ballance debt isn't cuts, it's growth. What happens when you cut public spending at the same time as the private sector is that workers have less to spend on local goods and services, leading to less demand and so contracts the economy. You end up in a worse position on the balance since tax collected goes down and unemployment goes up.
Thanks for your support. A warm sentiment can go a long way sometimes.
The total money supply is based on the base amount printed, multiplied by the money multiplier. When the multiplier is low (like it is now) because banks are not lending to each other, you can print quite a lot before any inflational effects are felt. Also, reserve currencies of the world do NOT go through hyperinflaiton because other countries are constantly devaluing their own currencies in order to increase the value of their own vaults, and increase exports to the consumer country (US)
Because if a country defaults on it's loans, it's 'credit rating' ends up terrible. The money it then borrows from international markets can begin to cost far more than is acceptable, and the country ends up having to pay more for the money that it needs to survive. It has been done in the past, but the countries have tended to be financially independant, it involves a re-jig in Import/Export markets and can lead to international difficulties eg Iceland caused runs on UK banks.
The basic point is that when S-I>NX+BD, a recession results. That happens when everyone (the aggregate of households & firms) are trying to save more than they earn. Saving and borrowing don't respond to the interest rate (ZLB). That's why QE is irrelevant. Monetary policy was useful in ending the credit crunch, which was good, but the problem then is lack of demand for lending. Monetary base never becomes money. Inflation: food and fuel prices are volatile; core inflation is a better measure.
I wouldn't exactly call the entirety of Western Europe as a fancy-pants country, but, um, yay, pants! -I'm not wearing pants because I'm in bed with a blanket and I smell banana bread and I'm kind of dying-
***** Dafuq!
I would like to say, as a school project I had to adjust government spending, I ended up with a -0.6 trillion dollar deficit, (600 Billion surplus) per year, the military was downsized by 40 percent, yet military research was increased by 20, of course Social Security was discontinued, but research was up, taxes raised minimally and tax breaks removed. So really, if a High Schooler can do it, maybe it isn't that hard, or I just didn't think of the consequences.
Also, in order to apply accounting FORMALLY, within the company (i.e. to do the FINANCIAL REPORTING which includes to CONSTRUCT the balance sheet) you need to be certified/chartered accountant which takes around 3 years to complete, if I remember well. So, no you cannot be a "better paid secretary" unless you are breaking the law and not complying the GAAP and IFRS.
You are awesome. Keep it coming!
I'm sorry for breaking the intelligent speech below, but I feel the urge to say this...
That unicorn pinata is the most amazing thing I have seen ALL day.
I agree, but it sure is a very underhanded way of generating more money. If Greece used, say, gold, which you can't really make more of, they would have to make money through "normal ways" such as trade.
The economic state of Greece was NOT screwed years ago but at the early '00s (that when we entered EU and change our currency to euro. We did not lie, quite the opposite. The euro destroyed started to destroy Greece. Why?
because of the transition and the response from Germany saying "we will help the Greek economy if it goes that low with loans" (but they added later the condition to NOT be able to take a loan from elsewhere, thus germany loaned us money with high pay-back rates).
My father happens to own a small company and have been receiving projects from the government the past 5 years he was being paid through greek bonds. And now hes BALANCE SHEET shows negative NET INCOME and he had to fire people in order to keep the company alive and keep the jobs of the rest of the people within the company.
Believe me the truth is much different than the one you hear or read from the media....
P.S I am not a Tea Bagger, I am just an Economics student from the States studying in Victoria, BC that has an economics professor.
with a heavy (William Wallace) accent that does not understand why the USA's banking system allows a privatized Central Bank. I thought the Fed was supposed to stabilize our economy and since it has been in place, we have been an economic roller coast. I don't expect you to have the answer, but I feel you will respond with the right questions
Thanks for the quick, clear explanation!
Evoking the Greek debt without ever using the words "Goldman Sachs", or the "sovereign debt" without the "FED" and "ECB" acronyms, is like explaining daylight without never mentioning the sun.
i agree with nearly everything you said, except when you said that excess savings necessarily leads to recession, because people can still borrow from banks instead of getting investors. However, if banks cut off credit the way they have since 2008 (as investors also go down due to savings), then that money is permanently cut off, the money multiplier drops, & inflation rises more slowly as you stated. Price inflation's still rising fairly quickly though despite the CPI. Just go grocery shopping
He made this video in 2010...for the record every single Greece bailout has just kicked the can down the road. The default has to happen to restore competitiveness
Great job john.You inspire me!
Maybe, but a bit simple explanation. Here are some other reasons: 1) Bretton-Woods agreement, 2) High aggregate demand due to war/govnt fiscal and welfare policies, 3) High real wage levels and relatively(!) egalitarian distribution of growth, 4) Boom in manufacturing across the western world, including Germany, UK, Scandinavia, Japan as well as the US, often boosted by US aid in the immediate post-war years.
Although this does apply to some, not all Greeks are like this. As Citizens and people we still can survive (financially) despite our country. The problem is only now (after 2 years of excessive taxes and reduced economical activity) starting to show.
''The saving rate in northern Europe remains higher than in the south. The political systems in the south are still characterized by corruption, instability, and narrow interest politics rather than broad national responsibility. Weber also believed the work ethic to be stronger in the north. It is interesting that around 60 percent of Scandinavians state that they are proud of their job, compared to 30 percent of Italians and merely 15 percent of the French.''
Debt is also bad when it is consumed rather than invested to increase the production of goods. Increasing production of goods will increase economic growth & wealth but consumption will not.
Re: Raising taxes in a recession.
Quick quiz. A country was in depression and had never looked worse... The symptoms were hyperdeflation, high wealth inequality, and massive unemployment. The government passed the largest tax increase in history on the highest tax bracket; about 150% increase on the top nominal rate.
What happened?
A: It was US in 1932 and the country went from double-digit GPD percent down to double-digit up within about 18 months. We also survived the 1935 Coup attempt.
I think his point with that was making decisions and planning, working persistently is making smart moves, and therefore being smart.
Please remake this video with the current situation 5 years later.
1) Loans: German and French banks were giving loans to greek governments in order to bankrupt them 10 or 20 years later. Why would a bank want the borrower to go bankrupt? The answer is only one. A bank would want that only if the property of the borrower exceeds the value of the loan. That is the case for Greece. German banks KNEW that Greece would go bankrupt. So, they wait now, for everything to devalue and buy everything that Greece has with 1/10th of the price.
In Europe, there are two main groups of countries: there are frugal countries such as Germany and the Netherlands that try to get into as little debt as possible and there are the countries like Greece and Spain that spend A LOT of money. In order to pay off their debt they simply print more money. Kinda cheating, but it works. However, with the arrival of the Euro, a common currency throughout most of Europe, it is really not easy to print more money like Greece could do before.
King Otto of Greece was Bavarian , British parliament did not fund the Greek revolution as the gov of the day supported the Ottomans seeing them as a counter balance against Russia, It was private citizens who acted often in defiance of their own gov in joining & giving material support to the Greeks in 1821, Most Phil-Hellenes were adventurous neo-classical romanticist like Lord Byron.
You miss some VERY important points. Yes, our debt to GDP was high during WWII, and we had a huge turn around immediately after, but only because WE STOPPED GOING INTO DEBT. It was the paying off of the debt that made the economy improve, not the going into debt. The more we go into debt, the more we have to pay on interest, which is an unproductive expenditure. The more money we can spend on productive expenditures, the more productive we will be. This ain't rocket science.
I am Greek and I didn't understand why we were in a crisis, until you explained everything.
I liked how he said "...the only other way to shrink the deficit would be to raise taxes, which is not usually seen as a good idea in a recession." And he's completely right. If you were to take 100% of the income of everyone making over 1million dollars a year, you wouldn't even be able to pay off 1/3 of our total debt. That's not even as mush as Obama added in one term. So obviously, taxing the rich excessively is like beating a dead horse, it might feel good but it won't get you anywhere.
Hello. I am just commenting to throw out how reliant the entire world is on our natural capital and its subtle yet extremely obvious natural services. Despite political allegiance or nationality, each one of us is dependent on what our natural world can provide us. Every good that is produced is a product of some sort of element within nature.
This all may be redundant but perhaps Vlogbrothers should at least touch on the consequences of social normality and its affect on human behavior which inevitably draws off of what we can exploit from what we call "natural capital". Maybe if we valued the integrity of our natural world that ultimately sustains our biology we could have peace, harmony, and health between all forms of life on Earth.
Vlogbrothers does a great job of touching on socially important issues going on around the world and I hope this comment reaches their eyes. Thanks so much for reading. Best wishes.
Sam
There is a slight problem with this video, Greece's interest rate went down when they joined the Euro. Pre Euro Greece had a higher rate of borrowing so when there borrowing rate went down they went a little spend crazy.
Poor thing that 4 years after this video was made my country's economy is still terrible ..... anyway thanks John for the support!!!
People fail to understand that Greece isn't the cause, but a symptom that shows the euro as a currency is undergoing a major crisis.And they say that we're lazy so they'll have an excuse to first salvage as much money as possible,and then throw us out of the Eurozone so the rest of it can keep functioning.My point is don't accuse us because your country might be the next one to be blamed for the bad economy.
Well, the outro aged in an interesting way
pretty much one point to it. That Greece cant pay back its debts because they overspent somehow but idk if i missed that part or its not in there. And because of that other countries aren't gonna loan which means money can't move in bulkier volumes throughout the country. One way most fix this is often by decreasing interest and allow banks to be able to have a bigger extension in credit but that causes issues in how much they actually have so if most havent caught on then maybe make more credit and have some sort of allience where u sign a contract for what happens when it gets better. Get a loan from one country pay off current debt then start contract. decrease interest. Increase government spending to pump money in to the economy. Find a way to decrease spending outside country like chinas no overseas investment laws etc and help make businesses grow. Maybe im making it sound too easy lol its always more complicated these days and most of these things take time.
When you print money the value of said money goes down. This can be good, and bad. Here for example the govt had to print money to stop the NZ dollar from rising so close to the USD because it was killing our exports (before we could ship stuff to the US where it was a bargain, yet it would be a decent bit of money here, but when the NZD rose above the USD suddenly that no longer stood true). At the same time it can be bad, in Zimbabwe people's money devalues a lot before they can spend it.
Wrong. It is a political problem, EuroStat warned multiple times that Greece should never have been allowed to join.
The European Parliament granted membership anyway because it showed European unity.
The crisis was financial in nature, but underlying its cause is economic ignorance from politicians.
FIAT money has a value because of trust. We as a country trust that a dollar is worth a dollar. However, if we print more money, the supply increases and inflation can occur thus lowering the value of a dollar and diminishing our trust in that value. This is one reason why prices go up. Printing more money is a step but not a solution. If it was, we wouldn't be over 14 trillion in debt.
The question is how, why and who decided that Greece can't pay back its debts? Somehow the economic crisis that we are living in this country is "artificial", but the effects are real. Unfortunately.
only problem being when the "stimulus" goes on indefinitely, which makes the currency worthless because the only two options are default and inflation...
.
but anyway, you did state the Keynesian position well. fingers crossed that growth shrinks the debt to GDP gap before everyone stops buying bonds right?...
More info on why Greece went into major debt and more information on how China bailed Greece out of hot water please.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe although total economic output has decreased, growth has never been as big as it is now in certain regions.
Love how you broke it down in four minutes... While saying that... There is not enough information how they became bankrupt... Yeah... Over spending... Over spending on what??? I'm very curious... but you know discussions like this are hard to find out what the problem is... I have read a thousand articles and million UA-cam video and these sources don't sound to connived they know what their even talking about. They throw out facts, talk to some Greeks but no news feed has a clear conclusion
John always looks funky in all of the thumbnails.