Why free market capitalism works

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The fiery phoenix spirit of Greece may one day rise from its ashes.

Usually good in an argument when citing a source to have that source support what you're actually arguing.

From the Wikipedia article (emphasis mine):
"In January 2010, the Greek Ministry of Finance published Stability and Growth Program 2010.[30] The report listed five main causes, poor GDP growth, government debt and deficits, budget compliance and data credibility. Causes found by others included excess government spending, current account deficits, tax avoidance and tax evasion"

Now where did that deficit and overspending come from:
Greek "social expenditure" (as a percent of GDP)

2000: 17.8
2005: 19.9
2010: 24.9
2015: 25.4

United States "social expenditure":

2000: 14.3
2005: 15.6
2010: 19.4
2015: 18.8

Canada "social expenditure":
2000: 15.8
2005: 16.1
2010: 17.5
2015: 17.6

OECD average "social expenditure":
2000: 17.4
2005: 18.2
2010: 20.6
2015: 19.0

Source: https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=SOCX_AGG#

Now Greece isn't the only country with high social expenditure, but they did have a debt crisis because their government spending outpaced their economic growth.

Last edited by Antrax on 11 Jun 2019, 5:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I hope so. I'm actually 2nd generation descendant of Greek immigrants and have family over there that have struggled in these times.

it's very hard in Greece right now.

first of all , you look at the yield curves and you ask yourself , after all that bond-buying QE for years , whatever the yield curves may seem like, how much is the fed influencing it and how much is the free market influencing it and how much has the fed distorted the free market?


https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-econ ... ee-four-us

from now on if things falter, trump blames yellen for raising rates too fast and yellen blames trump for trade war escalations .

petetrash1@******
They raising rates to crash the economy, just to take out Trump.
7 months ago
REPLY 6

jccwyu@******
@petetrash1@****** Exactly said
7 months ago
REPLY 0

Except that the numbers you give show social expenditure in % of GDP.
Until 2008, social expenditure is at comparable percentage with US and other countries.
THEN the crisis hits and AFTER the crisis the percentage goes up.
Note: after the crisis, GDP goes down, so if social expenditure stays the same, its percentage of GDP goes up.


Now to some things in the wikipedia article you seem to have not read carefully: Greece was/is corrupt and bad at collecting taxes.
Greece had the highest military spendings in % of GDP in the EU.

Their social spending however, according to the numbers you found, were average.

They cut down on that now, though, meaning: cutting pensions, cutting healthcare (I read about widespread multiple use of single-use items in hospitals.)
They did however buy two submarines from Germany in 2010 and paid their debt to German banks, which would otherwise have collapsed.

Free-market capitalism works for those who can compete. Socialism works for those who can't. Class dismissed.

So socialism takes care of those who can't take care of thenselves? Sounds good to me.

Sure, go for it! All you have to do in return is give up your individuality, your rights, your privacy, and all your dreams and ambitions! Won't that be fun?

But....in reality....they really don't!

In socialist societies like the USSR and China, there is the strong belief that every person "must pull their own weight."

They don't care for people who can't "pull their weight," it seems to me.

They don't care for disabled people. They tend to believe with dispensing with them.

Like I said, under Socialism people must give up their individuality, their rights, their privacy, and all their dreams and ambitions. Socialism is a form of Feudalism, in which the rulers have absolute sovereignty over the masses, and the masses live to serve (and serve to live). Think Pyongyang instead of Moscow or Beijing.

Why don't we just create a new system that works in favor of everyone? That seems like the best solution to me. Not "You HAVE to be Capitalist!" or "You HAVE to be Socialist!" Or "You HAVE to be Communist!"

I think we have been brainwashed to think that we have to abide by such archaic forms of governments. We need something new that works for everybody ASAP!

I don't like Marxism because the "masses" are emphasized over individuals.

I barely have any rights living as an impoverished mentally ill gay Aspie in a conservative state within a capitalist country.

Once my nightmare comes true and I wind up homeless in a gutter without the means to buy my bipolar meds I will end up either in prison or dead.

Hurray for dah rights and freedoms of Amuuurrican Capitalism!

If I’m appointed as Supreme Leader, I’ll make everyone happy...at least the people who don’t disagree with anything I say.