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http://michael-hudson.com/2011/09/euro-sos-debate/
Notes:
1) Dr. Hudson and Dr. Sommers both point out that the Euro crisis is because the private banks deliberately crippled the ECB - ensuring that it alone among central banks is unable create credit.
The effect is to force Euro governments to go to the private banks in order to create credit, thus guaranteeing these private banks the ability to extract profits when Euro governments need credit creation.
2) Fiscal unity to go along with monetary unity?
Consensus is that "Thatcherism on the Mediterranean" would not work.
The UK was able to pump up the City as a gigantic offshore financial center which in turn allowed the UK economy to grow slightly during Thatcherism (and its successors), but this policy cannot work for Southern Europe.
3) Social Democrats in Germany and elsewhere are completely not acting according to their charter - Sommers
No one could imagine 100 years ago that the Social Democrats and labor parties would be on the right of the conservative parties - Hudson
4) An independent Central Bank is touted as a hallmark of democracy. Yet no one votes for a Central Bank - Hudson
Financialization has starved the real economy of capital and entrepreneurial energy - Sommers
We need a debt writedown - Sommers
Notes:
1) Dr. Hudson and Dr. Sommers both point out that the Euro crisis is because the private banks deliberately crippled the ECB - ensuring that it alone among central banks is unable create credit.
The effect is to force Euro governments to go to the private banks in order to create credit, thus guaranteeing these private banks the ability to extract profits when Euro governments need credit creation.
2) Fiscal unity to go along with monetary unity?
Consensus is that "Thatcherism on the Mediterranean" would not work.
The UK was able to pump up the City as a gigantic offshore financial center which in turn allowed the UK economy to grow slightly during Thatcherism (and its successors), but this policy cannot work for Southern Europe.
3) Social Democrats in Germany and elsewhere are completely not acting according to their charter - Sommers
No one could imagine 100 years ago that the Social Democrats and labor parties would be on the right of the conservative parties - Hudson
4) An independent Central Bank is touted as a hallmark of democracy. Yet no one votes for a Central Bank - Hudson
Financialization has starved the real economy of capital and entrepreneurial energy - Sommers
We need a debt writedown - Sommers