One of the biggest dominos in Europe is about to fall
By louisehartmann
On Saturday – Spain’s Finance Minister announced his country would become the fourth Eurozone nation to have to take a bailout to stay afloat. Reports suggest that the Spanish bailout could cost as much as 100 billion euros, but will likely not come with tough new austerity measures since Spain has already passed harsh spending cuts to rein in its deficit, and that step has only made the problem worse.
The Spanish austerity agenda has increased unemployment to over 24% - the highest in the Eurozone – and now put a bailout on the table when just ten days ago – Spain’s Prime Minister said his country would not need a bailout. Immediately after the announcement – Greece’s anti-bailout SYRIZA Party leader – Alexis TSipiras – slammed current euro economic policies saying, “Developments in Spain confirm the position that we have maintained from the start. Namely, that the crisis is a pan-European problem and that the way it has been dealt with until now has been completely ineffective and socially disastrous.”
Not only that – the EU’s insistence on austerity may collapse the union altogether. As a Spanish government insider told the Guardian newspaper, “If Spain falls, the euro falls. There is not enough money at the IMF and in the European rescue funds to bail out the Spanish state.” This is just more proof that Republican austerity measures like those pushed by Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor not only destroy economies but are insane?
Comments
#2
Do people think we are immune to this? I'm putting all my money into gold/silver coins that I HOLD in my house.
#3
Every country whether Eurpoean or no european is following the western financial mantra, DEBT, more Debt.
those with wealth sit on it ,unless there is reinvestment in all the worlds economies, these efforts are just avoiding the inevitable
all this suffering for nothing, as " FoundingFreedoms" post states
"WHEN WILL THIS GREED STOP"
#4
don't know if it has anything to do with anything but when i do a tax return and for the life of me i can't figure out why someone with only 3k of earned income is getting a $978 earned income tax credit, which by the way is a refund, makes me wonder about just how screwed up the whole tax code is. think about it. i work for my stipend that is a few K more then the folks getting the EIC, which by the way is a refund!!! and yet I have to pay to give $$$ to those making less. just another form of well fare? or a stupid hole in the tax code that just pisses folks like me off more and more!!!! the rich get richer on the tax code and i get poorer as my tax $$$ are going to other working stiffs? i don't get it! moreover if you do the math and say 1,000,000 people get a 1k credit, which by the way is a refund thats a billion bones just handed out as freely as wellfare and the stupid first time home buyers tax credit, which by the way was a refund!!! America in my opinion is far from broke its just run by a bunch of thieves and corporate pigs. not to mention obviously a bunch of law makers who seems to be about as dim as a lowly burning out light bulb! ONE BILLION DOLLARS! JUST THINK ABOUT IT! I bet a good team auditors and controllers could easily find $250-$500 billion a year in just eliminating loop holes and stupid low income perks. its a thousand bucks either way out of my pocket and into someone elses? screwed up i tell ya just screwed up. What are they going to do when it all realy goes to hell in a hand basket?
#5
Has the whole bloody world forgotten the French Revolution and what brought it about?
Advanced weapons technology WILL NOT stop an angry populace from overthrowing an insensitive and irresponsible government.
#6
Are They Sane? by leighmf
In Spain where bulls are slain, they are insane.
The Queen will reign to chain us all again.
What is a Diamond Jubilee, but 60 years of power times three?
And what is this to you and me?
New Old World peasants soon we'll be.
From Coal and Coke and Opi now abstain.
Or in vain the acid rain we do complain.
xxxxx
#7
It is an historical struggle between humanism and improving the quality of life, and materialism that exploits labor, resources, and controls populations for profit. The wealth created becomes a mental problem or handicap for the wealthy causing them to dismiss the humanism qualities as something they can not do anything about.
Maturity for the human condition would be to grow beyond feudalism or corrupt capitalism that becomes controlling and psychologically psychopathic or not having the ability to empathically understand our fellow men and women as equals. The struggle for humanity to be on an equal playing field durring our short life is the history of classism the rich controlling the wealth and propagandizing the poor to accept their lot.
Raising all boats is the goal and capitalism when unregulated or not controlled corrupts government, makes laws to favor greed and material power over humanism as health, education, and equality. Seems the struggle in Europe is keyed to the banks (All Banks from All Nations) faulting on their "bets" to increase their wealth at the cost of the world economy. The trick is to hide the insider trading while losses are blamed on 3d world countries.
#8
Insanity!......Mitt Romney and seven other individuals divide up a pie which has been sliced into ten pieces. Inflicted by a delusion that it's his preordained privilege and no rules to stop him, Romney quickly grabs nine pieces. The other seven individuals divide up the remaining piece evenly. Along come Cantor and Ryan. They convince four of the seven that it makes good economic sense to give Romney additional crumbs from what they ended up with. These four in turn decide to justify their idiocy by joining the tea party so they can scream about how unfair it is that the three other Romney victims who happen to be SANE have so much!
How about a..... "Joe the Romney victims"..... national bus tour. They could tour the country giving testimony related to their job loss and theft of retirements etc.
My answer to Thom's on the air question....I call it DOMESTIC ECONOMIC TERRORISM! although treason applys well.
#9
We really need the press to take on this issue by challenging politicians to identify the basis upon which they hold their economic beliefs. Some of these policy prescriptions are irrational and they are making vague references to theories that are completely out of context to the circumstances at hand.
The press must help the voters understand when this is happening, and expose the ulterior motives that politicans have when they hold irrational positions.
#10
Cutting the budget, an austerity program, is like cutting back on watering the garden because the cost of water, fertilizer, and seeds increased. It’s the thinking in separate parts that’s the problem, instead of thinking that the fertilizer and water are part the garden with the goal being a bountiful harvest. If the cost of fertilizer and water increase, then the goal should be to plant more seeds, add more fertilizer and water to increase the harvest of the garden. The increased bounty would diminish the increased costs.
This increased bounty is essentially what President Eisenhower accomplished with planting the seed of the Interstate Highway system back in the 1950’s. He spent and grew our way out of the deficit. We need to plant some more seeds, like a High Speed Rail System for example, and continue on the road to growth.
#11
You're not over-taxed, you're underpaid. If wages had kept pace with production, no one would need an EIC. But the top 1% collected all the gains for the last 30 years, and laugh at the rest of us as we fight over what's left. It's called divide and conquer, and it's the same as cookie story. The richest 1% take 99% of all the cookies, then tell the working class.. look at that (poor, sick, elderly) person who's getting an EIC!!!!! He's trying to take YOUR cookie!!! The sad part is, the working class is buying this nonsense about a cookie shortage, and blaming each other, instead of demanding more cookies for all.
#12
I wholeheartedly agree. The French may be lousy at fighting wars (sorry to all my french pals), but they sure knew how to fight a revolution!!!
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