How deceitful and self serving use of immigration in the UK led to making a good economy worse, and with strict immigration policy in Greece made a bad economic situation better

05/22/2023

How a strict migration policy in Greece leads to a 90% drop in migration and brings Greece in line with the rest of the European Union including Italy and Germany on migrant policy. Merkel simply and clearly made a serious error in letting in migrants through Hungary and Austria because it led to anti migration sentiment throughout the EU, to Brexit, to the sidelining of parties that worked in the interests of workers and families throughout Europe for a decade in which distorted economic policy lost public support till the pandemic made things even worse.

Linked Articles

Has Brexit left Britain in a better state?

The Times 05/21/2023

Tom Calver, Data Editor

NYTimes.com 05/22/2023

Niki Kitsantonis

Macron's role in setting up the nonrepayable $390 billion common funding for the European Recovery Fund

07/31/2020

Macron's effort to persuade Merkel and Germans of the need for common funding for European recovery and his persistence at negotiations with the Dutch and Swedes to secure 390 billion euros of funding aid has earned him increasing popularity in France. It also brings Spain, Italy, Greece and eastern European nations closer together with France and Germany as they fight the pandemic.

Linked Articles

Macron's popularity climbs after signing EU pandemic stimulus, reshuffling gov't

France 24 07/30/2020

DW.COM 07/21/2020

Bernd Riegert

A Tale of Two Italian Cities - Bergamo, Lombardy and Vo, Veneto- In the time of Coronavirus

04/12/2020

Bergamo in Lombardy, northern Italy, did not heed the warnings calling for strict quarantines, Vo in Veneto region did contact tracing and strict quarantines. This made all the difference. Bergamo turned into a disaster, Vo recovered quickly. Vo is 85 miles to the east of Bergamo. This is a warning to cities around the world, act late and without strict quarantine or lockdown and there is a huge disaster looming from the coronavirus spreading quickly, because it is in the words of Dr Birx "very, very contagious."

Linked Articles

Italy’s Slow Progress in Fighting Coronavirus Is a Warning to West

WSJ 03/27/2020

Eric Sylvers In Milan, Margherita Stancati In Rome

The Times 03/26/2020

Tom Kington, Rome

Donald Trump's proposal for 45% tariff on China's exports to the U.S.- how a policy of bringing jobs home could lead to the loss of 1 million U.S. jobs

03/08/2016

By damaging the international trading system including with allies such a Canada, Britain, France and Germany, the result of a downward spiral through higher tariffs in other countries, could end up costing the U.S. 1 million jobs. Under such a system the U.S. would lose many of the advantages of its booming tech sector, its tech driven global advantages in many industries, without signifcant gains in low cost imports such as clothing which would simply migrate to other countries such as India. The problem of worker wage stagnation in the U.S., and loss of jobs in certain sectors, is very real, but this is the wrong way to tackle the problem. China is already moving towards a consumer driven economy. Economists show that trade with Mexico would be seriously hurt both ways, creating more pressure of migrants at the border under such proposals as a 45% tariff and its indirect effect on Mexico, when the actual fact is that net migration from Mexico is the lowest it has ben in decades. Politics can do strange things as when two senators Smoot and Hawley from agricultural states Utah and Oregon, at the head of important committees in the U.S. Congress pushed and passed legislation for a 60% tariff in 1930 for the industrial sector they had no idea about. When Smoot and Hawley lost reelection in 1932 they left behind a lot of damage, especially for the farmers and workers they thought they were fighting for.

Linked Articles

How Trump’s Hard Line on Trade Could Backfire

Wall Street Journal 03/25/2016

Bob Davis, Bob, Davis

Wall Street Journal 03/08/2016

Holman W. Jenkins Jr., Holman, W., Jenkins, Jr.

Deep differences in 2015 between Alexis Tsipras of Syriza and the Merkel government in Germany on debt forgiveness and the bailouts for Greece

01/26/2015

The deep differences between Greeks and Merkel operate at two levels. On the level of austerity policies Greece shares the view with other EU countries, the governments of Hollande in France and Renzi in Italy that austerity is not the best course for the eurozone. This view is also shared by people in Spain facing unemployment exceeding 20%, though the government of Rajoy in Spain like that of Samaras in Greece lived with the austerity policies with some changes. At this level there is also support from within Merkel's coalition government from Social Democrats. The other level of deep differences is on debt forgiveness and bailouts where Greece has to find its own way out in negotiations hoping that the EU and the IMF will agree to make concessions based on action taken by Syriza to ensure prudence in fianncial management. On issues such as minimum wage one would expect Syriza to be firm and make concessions where the hardship does not fall on the poorer and working class, winning support from the Social Democrats in Merkel's coalition. Beyond the symbolic moves and posturing the actual negotiations are likely to take into account the eurozone's need for help on the fiscal side desired by the ECB's Draghi to support monetary easing to fight deflation, and the need to keep the eurozone intact at a sensitive time. Syriza for its part is aware that a majority of Greeks favor staying in the eurozone.

Linked Articles

Greece’s new prime minister wants Germany to pay for Nazi war crimes - The Washington Post

Washington Post 01/26/2015

Ishaan Tharoor, Ishaan, Tharoor

Washington Post 01/27/2015

Griff Witte, Griff, Witte

Euribor close to zero and relief for suffering homeowners with mortgages in Spain, Portugal and other eurozone countries

05/28/2014

Most mortgages in Spain and Portugal are based on the Euribor rate. The ECB's monetary policy under Draghi has led to the decline of the Euribor rate to near zero in 2015, giving homeowners in extremely high unemployment countries such as Spain and Portugal much needed relief. Homeowners in Italy, with stagnant incomes and high unemployment, and other eurozone countries also get relief.

Linked Articles

Tumbling Interest Rates in Europe Leaves Some Banks Owing Money on Loans to Borrowers

Wall Street Journal 04/14/2015

Patricia Kowsmann And Jeannette Neumann, Patricia, Kowsmann, And, Jeannette, Neumann

Wall Street Journal 05/28/2014

Matt Moffett, Matt, Moffett, Olivia Crellin, Olivia, Crellin

A younger generation takes over in Italy- "we are worried that time is passing, and nothing is happening." (2)

02/12/2014

The IMF estimate shows that at the current pace of economic change Italy's growth rate would remain at 0.5% till 2018. Confindustria, Italy's business association, says it is worried that nothing is happening.

Linked Articles

Italian Premier’s Latest Challenge Comes From His Own Party

New York Times 02/12/2014

Jim Yardley, Jim, Yardley

Wall Street Journal 02/14/2014

Deborah Ball, Deborah, Ball, Christopher Emsden, Christopher, Emsden

The 150 million single children of parents, and the 61 million children of migrant workers- today's young generation in China growing up in unusual conditions

01/17/2014

The children of migrant workers were mostly brought up away from parents in rural areas by grandparents. The children born under a single child policy in urban areas had the opposite happen, with too much attention from doting parents. Both groups were raised in a manner not seen anywhere else in the world and face growing pains and lives with different burdens and needs than the rest of us. China's social and economic experiment may have come too fast, as policy planners may only now begin to realize. A lot may need to be done to address their needs and burdens, not so easily seen as the burdens of pollution and contamination whicha are easily observed.

Linked Articles

End of China’s One-Child Policy Stings Its ‘Loneliest Generation’

New York Times 11/13/2015

Javier C. HernÁndez, Javier, C., HernÁndez, Amy Qin, Amy, Qin

Wall Street Journal 01/17/2014

Andrew Browne, Andrew, Browne

Getting economic policy right- A second look at Japan, the European Union and the U.S. in 2014-2015

06/09/2013

In taking a second look, economists Stiglitz and Krugman ask if much derided Japan has avoided the worst effects of unemployment that have affected Spain, Italy, Greece, and France in the eurozone, and for the the long term unemployed in the U.S. And in doing so also avoided the widening income and wealth gaps opened up in the other industrialized countries.

Linked Articles

Apologizing to Japan

New York Times 10/30/2014

Paul Krugman, Paul, Krugman

New York Times 06/09/2013

Joseph E. Stiglitz, Joseph, E., Stiglitz

U.S. Fed chairman Bernanke's activist interest rate policies to tackle high unemployment and central bankers from MIT

12/12/2012

A pragmatic activist focus in economic thinking shaped at the MIT economics department in Cambridge, Masachusetts. The ECB's Mario Draghi, Bank of England's Mervyn King, and Bernanke shaped their thinking at MIT. Draghi and Bernanke had the same PhD. advisor- Stanley Fischer. Factors calling for a pragmatic approach include the lack of political agreement on th deficit, the housing and foreclosure crisis effects, higher inequality and unemployment effects on the middle class, the effects of the globalized economy on working class manufacturing jobs, people dropping out of the labor foce, and lower inflation, which called for a larger focus on unemployment. Bernanke emphasized the "enormous waste in human potential and productive resources of the economy" throughout 2009-2012. Draghi emphasized the abnormal nature of excessive borrowing interest rates for Italy and Spain during the ECB's bond buying efforts in 2011-2012. Both efforts had a stabilizing effect on the economies of the U.S. and Europe during a period of political discord about future policy.

Linked Articles

Fed Ties Rates to Joblessness

Wall Street Journal 12/13/2012

Jon Hilsenrath, Jon, Hilsenrath, Kristina Peterson, Kristina, Peterson

Wall Street Journal 12/12/2012

Jon Hilsenrath, Jon, Hilsenrath

What a difference a year makes for the government bonds of Italy and Spain

10/02/2012

ECB chief, Mario Draghi made the famous statement on July 23, 2012, that he would "do whatever it takes" to bring down the yields on the government bonds of Italy and Spain. These bond yields had reached 7.5%, worsening the debt position of the two countries. A year later in August 2013 the bond yields were down, the gap with German bond yields narrowed, and the first signs of recovery in the eurozone made investment in the bonds of Italy and Spain attractive. Emerging market debt faced the opposite of what they faced in July 2013, as the currencies of India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Brazil and other developing countries depreciated significantly. As the U.S. Federal Reserve begins its pull back from its monetary easing policy capital flows and foreign investment to to emerging markets reversed causing grief in countries which depended on these inflows to finance deficits in the current account.

Linked Articles

How ECB Chief Outflanked German Foe in Fight for Euro

Wall Street Journal 10/02/2012

Brian Blackstone, Brian, Blackstone, Marcus Walker, Marcus, Walker

Wall Street Journal 08/23/2013

Murray Coleman, Murray, Coleman

Canada's DBRS, a little known credit ratings firm that made a large difference for the credit ratings of Italy and Spain

08/09/2012

Canada's DBRS put less weight on the political shifts in Italy and more on the low growth rate. It rated Italy A (low) in November 2013, much higher than the ratings given by Moody's and S&P. This was important in the eurozone crisis because the European Central Bank uses the highest rating on a sovereign country's bonds to decide discounts on collateral pledged by banks to the ECB. DBRS has more faith in the lasting value of the euro and sees through the ups and downs of the crisis. It takes a similiar upbeat long term view of Spain. DBRS has credibility because it did not move ratings up as much before the 2008 financial crisis, and did not move the ratings down as much during the crisis, as the large credit ratings firms.

Linked Articles

Excessive Power of Ratings

Wall Street Journal 08/09/2012

Richard Barley, Richard, Barley

Wall Street Journal 11/02/2013

Richard Barley, Richard, Barley