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Greece and EU in 2015- (4) How are the structural issues such as tax evasion in Greece being tackled, after Monti's effort to tackle this in Italy in 2012?
02/18/2012
Surprisingly the Syriza government in 6 months in office did not come up with a plan to implement for tax evasion. This was a major issue for the IMF and in Greece's interest, even though it was going contrary to long standing practice in Greece as it was in Italy. Estimates of lost revenue are about $11 billion each year for tax evasion. By comparison the IMF payment due was less than $2 billion on June 30, 2015. Sustainable long term finances make this a major issue in Greece's own interest. Greece has an aging population and the number of retirees are growing in relation to young working people making this an important issue for stable finances under any administration, and regardless of the euro.
Linked Articles
How Greek tax evasion sunk the global economy
Washington Post 07/10/2012
A Hollow Target for Greek DebtWall Street Journal 02/18/2012
Increasing competitiveness and culture change in Italy and Spain (2)
02/08/2012
Linked Articles
Spain Plans to Burn Its Bridges to Keep Vacationers on the Job
Wall Street Journal 02/08/2012
Italy Official Seeks Culture Shift in New LawWall Street Journal 06/27/2012
Mario Monti, head of Italy's new government, on the conviction that austerity measures in the absence of growth won't work
12/15/2011
Linked Articles
Italy Leader, Monti, Tells Germany Austerity Isn't Enough
New York Times 01/11/2012
Leaders Grow Further Apart on SolutionsWall Street Journal 12/15/2011
Tax evasion in Italy and Greece and Germany's insistence on good governance and financial practices for a sound euro currency
11/25/2011
One estimate of tax evasion in Italy cited by Faiola in the Post is $340 billon a year. Greece has a similiar problem. This is one area in which the culture and practices of individual countries have to converge to acceptable norms to make a common currrency viable, something the founders of the euro currency did not take as seriously as needed and account for in a disciplined framework. The political enthusiasm for a union of European countries of EU founders led to ignoring the dangers of not having controls and convergence in place.
Linked Articles
New York Times 12/01/2011
Amid crisis, Italy confronts a culture of tax evasion - The Washington PostWashington Post 11/25/2011
Italy's Berlusconi and his legacy as seen from inside and outside Italy
11/12/2011
Linked Articles
Berlusconi Both Drew and Divided Italians
New York Times 11/12/2011
Silvio Berlusconi to leave legacy of playboy politician - The Washington PostWashington Post 11/12/2011
Alan Meltzer and Thomas Hoenig's criticism of Federal Reserve Bank chairman Bernake's failure to look at long term consequences of low rates
08/11/2011
Hoenig points to the Fed's lowered rates in 2003 after the burst of the dot com bubble and higher unemployment of 6.5% in 2003 and Meltzer which led to the mortgage meltdown of 2008. Meltzer points to QE II's $600 billion monetary easing in 2010 which failed to revive the economy or reduce unemployment in 2011. They emphasize the Fed's lack of attention to the long term consequences of their actions. Both question the role of the Fed in creating jobs and see the role of the Fed as a neutral player, as deeper structural changes such as ashift to export driven economy, lower consumption take time and are only delayed by a continuation of old policies.
Linked Articles
Kansas City Fed President Defies Conventional Wisdom
New York Times 08/13/2011
The Folly of Economic Short-TermismWall Street Journal 08/11/2011
Italy's banks and debt sustainability
07/13/2011
Linked Articles
Italy Seeks to Spur Growth, Narrowing Gap With Peers
Wall Street Journal 07/18/2011
Spanish Banks More Vulnerable Than Italy'sWall Street Journal 07/13/2011
High youth unemployment and lack of economic growth in Italy
02/02/2011
Linked Articles
Italy Seeks to Spur Growth, Narrowing Gap With Peers
Wall Street Journal 07/18/2011
The Youth Unemployment BombBusinessWeek 02/02/2011
Angela Merkel's experience with the reunification of East and West Germany and her views of the eurozone crisis
01/30/2011
The perceptions of the eurozone crisis of ordinary Germans and of former East German Angela Merkel are colored by the period of reunification of the two Germany's. This was paid for with a"solidarity surcharge" tax paid by Germans amounting to $1.7 trillion and led in its early stages to 4 million unemployed in the eastern part and 20% unemployment. It took over a decade for East Germany to build new modernized industries in the larger cities of the east, but still leaves the rural parts of former East Germany in a neglected state as young peoplemoved out. During this period industry in the west also regained lost global competitiveness, especially in industries such as automobiles and advanced machinery, using wage restraint agreements with unions and increases in productivity. Germans see the need for eurozone countries in the southern part of Europe needing to make similiar sacrifices and see the tax evasion in Italy and Greece as unacceptable. The real estate bubble, the lack of transparency for banks bad loans, and out of control regional spending in Spain is also seen in a similiar light. Greece is seen as the most egregious offendor because of the bad financial accounting that grossly understated the extent of the bad loans. Less publicized in Germany is the role played in the bad loans through poor lending practices of German and French banks and that as experts have pointed out Germany was to some extent bailing out German banks when it was bailing out Greece- till German banks reduced their exposure to Greece in 2011.
Linked Articles
In former East Germany, anxious residents resent paying for Europe’s problems - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/21/2012
Merkel's Defense of Euro Forged in East GermanyNew York Times 01/30/2011
Increasing use of temporary workers in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece- the consequences for young people
01/01/2011
Linked Articles
Frenzy Over Teaching Test Points to Italyâs Woes
New York Times 12/24/2012
Lack of Jobs in Southern Europe Frustrates the YoungNew York Times 01/01/2011
Italy's borrowing in capital markets - 2011-2012
06/03/2010
Linked Articles
Italy Seeks to Spur Growth, Narrowing Gap With Peers
Wall Street Journal 07/18/2011
Italy's Shot of Southern DiscomfortWall Street Journal 06/03/2010
The public finances of France affect the credibility of the $1 trillon eurozone support package.
05/13/2010
How this affects Spain, Portugal, Italy and other countries facing financial crisis.
Linked Articles
French Cracks Are Showing in Euro-Zone Core
Wall Street Journal 05/13/2010
Italy's debt fuels worriesWall Street Journal 05/14/2010
David Rieff provides insights on why all developing countries, Mexico, Brazil, India, Indonesia and China need to take child malnutrition seriously
10/11/2009
The Indian lower house of parliament passed a Food Security bill in August 2013. Rieff says China made serious progress to reduce malnutrition from over 21% for children under 5 years to around 7% today after 1990. In India malnutrition for children under 5 years is above 40%. There is a lot that developing coutnries can learn from each other in this area including the Bolsa Familia program in Brazil which uses the concept of improving vaccination for children and school attendance as requirements for subsidy payments to the poor. Mexico and Indonesia have different versions of programs to help the poorer sections of society. The problem is acute in India because of indifference induced by caste and other considerations and the high level of malnutrition for children. Rief says how good is ademographic dividend when many of these children are permanently and silently impaired by malnutrition by the age of three. India's Congress party leader, Sonia Gandhi, put it differently in parliament: "What is our responsibility to these people?"
Linked Articles
New York Times 10/11/2009
India's Lower House Passes Food Bill to Help PoorWall Street Journal 08/26/2013
Changes to labor laws in Italy and Spain to increase competitiveness and accompanying culture change (1)
02/10/2012
The significant changes underway in labor laws that should increase productivity and competitiveness of Spain and Italy. The need for the culture change that goes with this.
Linked Articles
Italy Official Seeks Culture Shift in New Law
Wall Street Journal 06/27/2012
Spain Approves Changes to Labor PolicyNew York Times 02/10/2012
Mario Monti and the much needed changes in Italy
01/20/2012
Monti's actions to address Italy's main problems- insufficient competition, inadequate infrastructure, and too much red tape.
Linked Articles
Italy Plans New Measures to Liberalize Economy
New York Times 01/20/2012
Mario Monti and Italy's Generational Crisis | Foreign AffairsForeign Affairs 02/14/2012
Expert opinion on the problem with German insistence on tough austerity measures in Greece, Italy and Spain and Portugal
11/28/2011
Without economic growth the problems of debt reduction become more difficult to tackle. Austerity measures may lead to shrinking economies in these countries creating larger deficits.
Linked Articles
New York Times 11/28/2011
Europe's Currency Road to NowhereWall Street Journal 11/29/2011
The new government of Mario Monti, former EU commissioner, in Italy
11/13/2011
A government of technocrats formed from respected figures in academia, business and the civil service in Italy. It replaces the government of Silvio Berlusconi which had lost credibility inside Italy and with leaders of the European Union.
Linked Articles
Mario Monti, Italyâs New Leader, Faces Uphill Fight
New York Times 11/13/2011
Italyâs Monti Forms New GovernmentNew York Times 11/16/2011
The Bundesbank's position on purchases of sovereign bonds of Spain and Italy by the European Central Bank (ECB)
09/10/2011
Linked Articles
Bundesbank Stresses Divide on Bond Buying
Wall Street Journal 08/02/2012
Banker's Exit Rattles MarketsWall Street Journal 09/10/2011
Problems with the EU July 2011 Plan for Greece and other troubled eurozone countries
07/28/2011
The lack of funding and powers for the European Fiinancial Stability Facility to deal with future crises. EFSF lacks adequate funding and power to buy bonds of troubled eurozone countries including Italy and Spain. Other issues that remain unresolved A sense that the EU leaders are a step behind each developing crisis and have not wrapped their hands around the whole problem.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 08/08/2011
The Euro Crisis: Big Rescue, Big DoubtsBusinessWeek 07/28/2011
The slow economic growth in Italy and the impact on Italy's debt sustainability
06/24/2011
Linked Articles
Italy Seeks to Spur Growth, Narrowing Gap With Peers
Wall Street Journal 07/18/2011
Italy Needs a Growth RenaissanceWall Street Journal 06/24/2011
Temporary workers in the U.S. and in Italy- the consequences in lower consumer spending, higher inequality and poverty
02/02/2011
Linked Articles
The Rise of the Permanent Temp Economy
New York Times 01/26/2013
The Youth Unemployment BombBusinessWeek 02/02/2011
Lack of jobs for young people in Southern European countries of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece
01/01/2011
Linked Articles
Italy Seeks to Spur Growth, Narrowing Gap With Peers
Wall Street Journal 07/18/2011
Lack of Jobs in Southern Europe Frustrates the YoungNew York Times 01/01/2011
The growth compact for Europe: increasing German wages to benefit German workers and increase imports from other eurozone countries
08/17/2010
German workers exercized a decade of wage restraint under the Hartz reforms. This has led to a large increase in the sector of lower paid workers. Polls show 4 out of 5 workers feel they have not benefitted from the growth in the economy in Germany. Higher German wages coupled with wage restraint in France, Spain, Italy and other eurozone countries would help increase imports into Germany from other eurozone coutnries. This would help rebalance the eurozone economies.
Linked Articles
Germany's Inflated Fear of Inflation
Wall Street Journal 02/14/2012
German Workers' Wages Belie Country's ReboundWall Street Journal 08/17/2010
Spain, Portugal, and Italy face contagion effects of the Greece financial crisis.
05/14/2010
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 05/14/2010
Spain is simply shifting the problemWall Street Journal 05/14/2010
Why the Obama health care law gets an "F" grade from the Dean of Harvard Medical School
11/18/2009
The failure to replace the "fee-for-service" system in favor of capitated payments is cited as one of the main reasons. The other reasons are it does not resolve the issues of introducing competition in quality of care and cost, and continues the practices that disguise the true cost of care with a highly fragmented system of care. In a op-ed, Jeffrey Flier, Dean of the Harvard Medical School, gives a detailed account for the reason for his grading. A poorly drafted or incomplete law says Flier can make things worse, citing the example of the health care law in Massachusetts which is driving up costs, as it does not change the old dysfunctional system's key features such as "fee-for service," and instead tries to build a new system on broken foundations. Pearlstein in the Washington Post says the Obama health care law has addressed the "fee-for-service" problem, but this is really not the case, and Flier's reasoning may be the clue to the deeper problem for the Obama health care law.
Linked Articles
Steven Pearlstein: Eat your broccoli, Justice Scalia - The Washington Post
Washington Post 04/01/2012
Health 'Debate' Deserves a Failing GradeWall Street Journal 11/18/2009
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