Harvard University economist Kenneth Rogoff talks about the agreement reached by European leaders to try to resolve the debt crisis, the future of the euro region and the outlook for the U.S. economy. He says that the crisis in Europe is the biggest risk to the US economy and expecting austerity plans that put the weaker countries into multi-year recessions in order to pay back their debts is an unrealistic plan. To those who say the solutions are just to cut taxes and allow each country to grow its way out of their debt, Rogoff says there is just no historical precedent where this has ever worked. The solutions always require debt write downs, investment in lasting infrastructure and higher taxes. Watch the video here.
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One Way to Understand the EU’s Inevitable Crash Landing: the Autopilot Analogy
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogoct11/autopilot-EU10-11.html
When you ask why is Greece still in the EU, you have to ask not why Greece wants to be in the EU. They don’t matter. You have to ask why do Germany and France want Greece in the EU? For the same reason Germany invaded most of these countries in the past and that is power and control. Giving Greece a few Euros to gain access to its markets and labour pool is less costly (and much more politically acceptable) than invading it.