Peter Coy,
economics editor for Bloomberg BusinessWeek, discusses the troubling economies of Portugal and Greece, and how their weakness could spell trouble for more stable nations around the world.
One more thing: a lrge portion of the problems incurred by Countries like Greece, Portugal and Italy is directly proportional to the levels of corruption and tax evasion at all levels of society.
It could never happen in the US. We see no evidence of this happening. It would take a huge event, much greater than anything we've ever seen in history.
Seems that I've heard all those arguments recently...
One thing that we know is that the rating agencies' have done a pretty poor job of getting credit ratings right.
Not only can we look at the bank rating failures during the financial crisis here in the U.S., but also with their record on country ratings like their downgrading of Brazil in the 1980s when their economic fundamentals and natural-social resource base were sound.
We tend to forget too easily that in this millennium of global communications and trade, we are much more connected to each other. Be it economics, politics or trends, many more of us are actors, not just spectators of avery sophisticated wire act, possibly with a weak sapety net underneath it all.
The difference between Greece and Michigan, is that the majority of the budget in the US is in the hands of the Federal government, while in Europe, it is in the hands of the states.
Do you think an EMU breakup is possible?
How do you think France and the Netherlands will fare?
oh sure, portugal and greece, but the larger economies, germany, is doing well, right? this is like saying alabama and nebraska are failing so the dollar has no value. what's the BIG picture?
Are these P-I-G-S too "WEAK to FAIL", vis a vis Trichet willingness/ability to "bail them out"??? What would be the likley scenario for an orderly devolution.....global/market effects? Thanks, JMD
The recent United Nations Development Program UNDP ranking of countries on the human development index had Ireland as 5ht and the country was categorised with 18 others as achieving "very high human development". The criteria on which the rankings are based include life expectancy, literacy, secondary and tertiary education, income, number of doctors per 1000, infant mortality per 1000, and intangibles like well-being. I'm wondering how a country could be ranked as high as Ireland and have economic woes? Where did they get so much money to spend on people development?
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Comments [12]
(listening to podcast)
are you guys really comparing the us economy/the us to greece? what is this april 1?
One more thing: a lrge portion of the problems incurred by Countries like Greece, Portugal and Italy is directly proportional to the levels of corruption and tax evasion at all levels of society.
Has anybody noticed that our deficit at a percentage of GNP is the same as Greece at 13%?
It could never happen in the US. We see no evidence of this happening. It would take a huge event, much greater than anything we've ever seen in history.
Seems that I've heard all those arguments recently...
GREECE??? Nooooooooooooooo! Greece padded payrolls!???!!!! REALLY???? Hm
One thing that we know is that the rating agencies' have done a pretty poor job of getting credit ratings right.
Not only can we look at the bank rating failures during the financial crisis here in the U.S., but also with their record on country ratings like their downgrading of Brazil in the 1980s when their economic fundamentals and natural-social resource base were sound.
We tend to forget too easily that in this millennium of global communications and trade, we are much more connected to each other. Be it economics, politics or trends, many more of us are actors, not just spectators of avery sophisticated wire act, possibly with a weak sapety net underneath it all.
The difference between Greece and Michigan, is that the majority of the budget in the US is in the hands of the Federal government, while in Europe, it is in the hands of the states.
Do you think an EMU breakup is possible?
How do you think France and the Netherlands will fare?
oh sure, portugal and greece, but the larger economies, germany, is doing well, right?
this is like saying alabama and nebraska are failing so the dollar has no value.
what's the BIG picture?
Are these P-I-G-S too "WEAK to FAIL", vis a vis Trichet willingness/ability to "bail them out"???
What would be the likley scenario for an orderly devolution.....global/market effects?
Thanks,
JMD
The recent United Nations Development Program UNDP ranking of countries on the human development index had Ireland as 5ht and the country was categorised with 18 others as achieving "very high human development". The criteria on which the rankings are based include life expectancy, literacy, secondary and tertiary education, income, number of doctors per 1000, infant mortality per 1000, and intangibles like well-being. I'm wondering how a country could be ranked as high as Ireland and have economic woes? Where did they get so much money to spend on people development?
What would happen if these countries default?
What do these countries portend for us?
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