*Germany to Greece: "Go sell off some of your country, lol"*

[Kalnisov]

A socialist country goes bankrupt

what a shock!

You are Billions in Debt after Ronald Reagan and his 'capitalist' policies.

It's funny to me, in a how Germans find the idea of bailing out Greece - funny, that in a thread about Greece and Germany, you make a crack at America.

Really, do you have America on your mind so much that on a thread about Greece's debt you just have to blurt something American out of your mouth? Does it just build up in your mind until you simply have diharria of the mouth and just let out America this and America that until your fingers get sore from typing it? Stop looking for trouble with your anti-Americanisms.

Pretty sure that he only responded that way because he assumed that (maybe because the dude had an American flag) that it was the typical socialism-iz-ebil or that it is a bad system of government kind of comment that is common in America, while at the same time ignoring his own countries enormous debt.

Or not, I could be wrong.

[Braaainsss]

A socialist country goes bankrupt

what a shock!

Heh, you're going bankrupt too, but without the satisfaction of being socialist in the meantime.

The US is in no foreseeable danger of a sovereign default.

The US is also not subject to regulation by an Economic Community. Greece ISN'T going bankrupt, it's just getting pushed around by the other nations it has entered into agreements with.

Hey we slap around Mexico when they go over board on debt.

How do 'you' do that ? Threaten to kick em out of NAFTA ?

threaten to cut off their world bank and IMF loans mostly.
And fi that doesn't work threaten to order American businesses to stop investing in Mexico.

US government does not control the World Bank nor the IMF. And imposing sanctions on Mexico would be the only way it could compel American businesses not to invest in Mexico.

I have no doubt that the US government has a lot of influence over the Mexican government. It really shouldn't, though, except by international law or by mutual treaty.

The US has a controlling share in the IMF. The US loaned billions of dollars to Mexico to bail them out of a crisis in the mid-1990s and secured billions more for them in IMF loans. Billions more have gone to Mexico in the form of aid. If the US expresses concern about Mexican debt, they are certainly going to listen.

As xenophobic as some Americans are towards Mexicans, at least we don't tell them to sell off their government property.

[United Russian State]

Strange this comes up today.

Shouldn't they be suggesting this to the ones who are in far worse shape than Greece, and are EU states?

Well, not really, no. But just which countries do you have in mind?

Spain, Italy, and France. Like the one whose external debt is 110%+ of their GDP.

Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland aren't in as bad shape as Greece (yet) . . . and France shouldn't be grouped with Spain and Italy in terms of finances.

Spain has higher negtive GDP, higher infaltion, their debt is higher too. Spain's debt is 455.95 billion.

Italy's debt is higher than their GDP. They will owe more money than they produce.

[The Atlantian islands]

A socialist country goes bankrupt

what a shock!

You are Billions in Debt after Ronald Reagan and his 'capitalist' policies.

It's funny to me, in a how Germans find the idea of bailing out Greece - funny, that in a thread about Greece and Germany, you make a crack at America.

Really, do you have America on your mind so much that on a thread about Greece's debt you just have to blurt something American out of your mouth? Does it just build up in your mind until you simply have diharria of the mouth and just let out America this and America that until your fingers get sore from typing it? Stop looking for trouble with your anti-Americanisms.

Pretty sure that he only responded that way because he assumed that (maybe because the dude had an American flag) that it was the typical socialism-iz-ebil or that it is a bad system of government kind of comment that is common in America, while at the same time ignoring his own countries enormous debt.

Or not, I could be wrong.

1. Socialism is a bad system of government.

2. It doesn't matter. The poster was talking about Greece's government and economics, on topic. The other poster respons by basically saying, "The U.S. sucks too, see!" - which adds absolutely zero to the conversation, and frankly, it's annoying.

[Nobel Hobos]

@Greed and death: please fix up the formatting in that, I can barely follow it despite having written half of it.

Yes, the US has a lot of influence over Mexico, but to exercise it as bluntly as you suggest would do a lot of harm to the instruments of World Bank and IMF.

[Milks Empire]

Pretty sure that he only responded that way because he assumed that (maybe because the dude had an American flag) that it was the typical socialism-iz-ebil or that it is a bad system of government kind of comment that is common in America, while at the same time ignoring his own countries enormous debt.
Or not, I could be wrong.

1. Socialism is a bad system of government.

No, it isn't a bad form of government... because it's not a form of government to begin with. It's an economic system. Seriously, get a fucking clue.

[The Atlantian islands]

Strange this comes up today.

Shouldn't they be suggesting this to the ones who are in far worse shape than Greece, and are EU states?

Well, not really, no. But just which countries do you have in mind?

Spain, Italy, and France. Like the one whose external debt is 110%+ of their GDP.

Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland aren't in as bad shape as Greece (yet) . . . and France shouldn't be grouped with Spain and Italy in terms of finances.

Spain has higher negtive GDP, higher infaltion, their debt is higher too. Spain's debt is 455.95 billion.

Italy's debt is higher than their GDP. They will owe more money than they produce.

I'm not doubting the shitty order of their finances, I'm just saying that the EU isn't considering them a threat to the economic stability of the union, yet, which warrents a bailout.

[Inertina]

1. Socialism is a bad system of government.

Norway and Sweden would greatly disagree.

[Cosmopoles]

Spain, Italy, and France. Like the one whose external debt is 110%+ of their GDP.

And Portugal. Don't think France is faring too badly, though.

[Nobel Hobos]

A socialist country goes bankrupt

what a shock!

You are Billions in Debt after Ronald Reagan and his 'capitalist' policies.

It's funny to me, in a how Germans find the idea of bailing out Greece - funny, that in a thread about Greece and Germany, you make a crack at America.

Really, do you have America on your mind so much that on a thread about Greece's debt you just have to blurt something American out of your mouth? Does it just build up in your mind until you simply have diharria of the mouth and just let out America this and America that until your fingers get sore from typing it? Stop looking for trouble with your anti-Americanisms.

Pretty sure that he only responded that way because he assumed that (maybe because the dude had an American flag) that it was the typical socialism-iz-ebil or that it is a bad system of government kind of comment that is common in America, while at the same time ignoring his own countries enormous debt.

Or not, I could be wrong.

1. Socialism is a bad system of government.

2. It doesn't matter. The poster was talking about Greece's government and economics, on topic. The other poster respons by basically saying, "The U.S. sucks too, see!" - which adds absolutely zero to the conversation, and frankly, it's annoying.

Oh, right. So you can make a blanket statement like "socialism is bad" and consider it on-topic. But it annoys you when anyone talks about sovereign debt in any other country but Greece, because it doesn't ride your "socialism leads to bankruptcy" hobby-horse.

Be as irritated as you like. In fact, why not get angry ? You're hilarious when you get angry.

[The Atlantian islands]

Pretty sure that he only responded that way because he assumed that (maybe because the dude had an American flag) that it was the typical socialism-iz-ebil or that it is a bad system of government kind of comment that is common in America, while at the same time ignoring his own countries enormous debt.
Or not, I could be wrong.

1. Socialism is a bad system of government.

No, it isn't a bad form of government... because it's not a form of government to begin with. It's an economic system. Seriously, get a fucking clue.

Socialism as a form of government could easily refer to a government when the party in power is socialist. I lived in Spain, and people would call the government socialist because the socialist party is in power. That's what that original poster meant when he attacked the socialists of Greece.

You get a fucking clue, and take it easy.

[Kalnisov]

A socialist country goes bankrupt

what a shock!

You are Billions in Debt after Ronald Reagan and his 'capitalist' policies.

It's funny to me, in a how Germans find the idea of bailing out Greece - funny, that in a thread about Greece and Germany, you make a crack at America.

Really, do you have America on your mind so much that on a thread about Greece's debt you just have to blurt something American out of your mouth? Does it just build up in your mind until you simply have diharria of the mouth and just let out America this and America that until your fingers get sore from typing it? Stop looking for trouble with your anti-Americanisms.

Pretty sure that he only responded that way because he assumed that (maybe because the dude had an American flag) that it was the typical socialism-iz-ebil or that it is a bad system of government kind of comment that is common in America, while at the same time ignoring his own countries enormous debt.

Or not, I could be wrong.

1. Socialism is a bad system of government.

2. It doesn't matter. The poster was talking about Greece's government and economics, on topic. The other poster respons by basically saying, "The U.S. sucks too, see!" - which adds absolutely zero to the conversation, and frankly, it's annoying.

1. That's not a fact, it's an opinion
2. It does matter, he was responding to someones comment that ignored his own countries massive debt while assuming that Greece's system is worse. I also find that people who assume socialism is bad are annoying.

This is just as off-topic as you claim the other one was, and I realize that I shouldn't have said anything. I won't respond unless there's something productive to say, lest this turn into a flame fest.

EDIT: I forgot, socialism is an economic system . Epic fail on my part, thanks for that Milk.

[The Atlantian islands]

1. Socialism is a bad system of government.

Norway and Sweden would greatly disagree.

And they may. And I'll point out to Norway that it has tons of oil money and a small, highly educated homogenous population . .. thus their economic system works there. I'll point out to Sweden that it has tons of resources and a small, highly educated homogenous population living in a huge country, and thus their economic system works there.

[Greed and Death]

@Greed and death: please fix up the formatting in that, I can barely follow it despite having written half of it.

Yes, the US has a lot of influence over Mexico, but to exercise it as bluntly as you suggest would do a lot of harm to the instruments of World Bank and IMF.

Sorry really hung over today.
basically US has the ability to block anything the world bank and IMF wishes to do including expanding credit to a new country.

[United Russian State]

Strange this comes up today.

Shouldn't they be suggesting this to the ones who are in far worse shape than Greece, and are EU states?

Well, not really, no. But just which countries do you have in mind?

Spain, Italy, and France. Like the one whose external debt is 110%+ of their GDP.

Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland aren't in as bad shape as Greece (yet) . . . and France shouldn't be grouped with Spain and Italy in terms of finances.

Spain has higher negtive GDP, higher infaltion, their debt is higher too. Spain's debt is 455.95 billion.

Italy's debt is higher than their GDP. They will owe more money than they produce.

I'm not doubting the shitty order of their finances, I'm just saying that the EU isn't considering them a threat to the economic stability of the union, yet, which warrents a bailout.

If the Eu doesn't consider them a threat to their union, some which are even more of a threat than Greece, than they need to elect leaders which are not blind to facts. Or maybe Germany complains about Greece mainly because it does not follow it like spain and the others do? Granted this is expected, bow they will put the blame on each other as their union goes through hard times.

[Kamsaki]

Well, do you think Greece should start selling off public land?

The main problem I forsee is that it could get bought up by a series of corporate entities who'd simply turn it into a tax haven. And then we'd all be seriously fucked.

[The Atlantian islands]

Oh, right. So you can make a blanket statement like "socialism is bad" and consider it on-topic. But it annoys you when anyone talks about sovereign debt in any other country but Greece, because it doesn't ride your "socialism leads to bankruptcy" hobby-horse.

Socialism is bad, and has been proven so over the last century. But that's neither here nor there. It doesn't annoy me when someone talks about America's economics, it annoys me when it is in a thread about Greece and the European Union. Do you really not understand that?

[United Russian State]

Spain, Italy, and France. Like the one whose external debt is 110%+ of their GDP.

And Portugal. Don't think France is faring too badly, though.

I am not sure if they are as bad as Greece, but they sure aren't doing good.

[The Atlantian islands]

Spain, Italy, and France. Like the one whose external debt is 110%+ of their GDP.

And Portugal. Don't think France is faring too badly, though.

I am not sure if they are as bad as Greece, but they sure aren't doing good.

France actually didn't do so bad through the crisis. It did much better than the Anglo-Saxon countries, arguably better than Germany (depends on where you look), much better than southern and eastern europe . . . and much, much better than Russia.

[Nobel Hobos]

Italy's debt is higher than their GDP. They will owe more money than they produce.

The ratio of debt to GDP is an important measure of debt.

But "owing more money than they produce" isn't necessarily a recipe for bankruptcy. GDP is a yearly measurement, whereas debt is a gross sum. The yearly equivalent is the service cost of the debt (ie, the interest payed on what they owe).

If interest payments exceeded GDP, then a country is truly fucked. Italy is nowhere near that. Nor is Greece.

[Kalnisov]

Oh, right. So you can make a blanket statement like "socialism is bad" and consider it on-topic. But it annoys you when anyone talks about sovereign debt in any other country but Greece, because it doesn't ride your "socialism leads to bankruptcy" hobby-horse.

Socialism is bad, and has been proven so over the last century. But that's neither here nor there. It doesn't annoy me when someone talks about America's economics, it annoys me when it is in a thread about Greece and the European Union. Do you really not understand that?

So people going off-topic annoy you? Capitalism hasn't done so well for the United States over the last little while as far as I can see. Lotta debt building up righ' thar...

Crap, now I'm making it worse >.<

[Kamsaki]

... tons of resources and a small, highly educated homogenous population living in a huge country...

A lesson for the rest of us, I think. Smaller populations and controlled economies are a good thing.

[Aggicificicerous]

1. Socialism is a bad system of government.

Norway and Sweden would greatly disagree.

And they may. And I'll point out to Norway that it has tons of oil money and a small, highly educated homogenous population . .. thus their economic system works there. I'll point out to Sweden that it has tons of resources and a small, highly educated homogenous population living in a huge country, and thus their economic system works there.

So in other words, socialism is fine in certain countries.

[The Atlantian islands]

... tons of resources and a small, highly educated homogenous population living in a huge country...

A lesson for the rest of us, I think. Smaller populations and controlled economies are a good thing.

Not at all. Cuba has a small population and a controlled economy....is that a good thing?

Norway is unique because, like Saudi Arabia, it has oil and thus can use that to fund its welfare state. Sweden too is blessed with a huge country filled with resources and a tiny amount of people. That is not common.

[The Atlantian islands]

1. Socialism is a bad system of government.

Norway and Sweden would greatly disagree.

And they may. And I'll point out to Norway that it has tons of oil money and a small, highly educated homogenous population . .. thus their economic system works there. I'll point out to Sweden that it has tons of resources and a small, highly educated homogenous population living in a huge country, and thus their economic system works there.

So in other words, socialism is fine in certain countries.

No. And Nordic countries don't have socialism, they have welfare capitalism. They still have private corporations that compete on the international market, competition, etc etc