Monday, February 15, 2010

Redoing the kitchen while the house burns down


http://dollarcollapse.com/articles/redoing-the-kitchen-while-the-house-burns-down/
No one really understands the U.S. balance sheet, of course, and because we own a printing press, the growing imbalances have yet to bite. Which is why the struggles of Greece are so enlightening. As part of the euro zone it doesn’t own the printing press that makes its currency. And now that it can’t borrow to fund its deficits, it has to decide — very publicly — how to live within its means.

As numerous analysts have concluded, that can only be achieved by cutting every citizen’s income by a painful amount. But the resulting drop in consumer spending will push the government budget even further into the red, requiring more cuts, which will lower spending even more, and so on. You see the problem: Without a printing press a bloated public sector can’t function.

2 comments:

  1. Take the hit now and get it over with, don't prolong the pain. Their problem, like so many government's is that it is dominated by public sector unions and politicians beholden to them. The antibiotic necessary will put many politicians out of work and may even endanger their lives, based on how much pain will have to be endured.

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  2. I agree, but in reality, it will never happen, no matter who's in Congress, or in the Administration. Politicians want to get re-elected, so spending cuts are politically impossible. Besides, we're past the tipping point, and a default is inevitable, if not imminent.

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