Comments for The Washington Post Doesn't Like French Socialists at http://www.cepr.net , comment 1 to 10 out of 10 comments http://www.cepr.net Sun, 26 May 2013 01:26:52 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-doesnt-like-french-socialists#comment-21340 Krugman made a good argument that Greek wages were too high...made sense to me. I guess you are saying he was wrong? - pete Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:12:23 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-doesnt-like-french-socialists#comment-21337 Argentina has significant issues (the Government playing games with official inflation statistics), but it does enjoy economic growth and relatively low unemployment, thanks to its floating exchange rate. Again, for the folks at the WaPo, high unemployment, declining real wages, the eliminations of social insurance and economic security programs, and the consequential immiseration of the masses are features, not bugs, in their vision of neoliberal economics. Taking their lectures of living within mmy means to heart, I no longer can afford the luxury of subscribing or buying the Post at newstands. - sherparick Fri, 18 Jan 2013 03:44:00 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-doesnt-like-french-socialists#comment-21334 Pete: Keynes is not about inflation. Not about lowering wages. That is a complete misreading. And if a country can afford the wages it pays its workers, how much they have grown recently is besides the point. If the USA rewarded labor as well as 40 odd years ago - wages would go up dramatically, probably higher than productivity. So what? The financial sector, the banksters & the rich have been grabbing far more than their laughable contributions to productivity for 4 decades, because they can. Argentina is working out quite well, especially comparatively. What on earth leads you to say it is not? [i]well, like Argentina, they would not be allowed to borrow in Drachma and Pesos, would have to borrow in Euros and Dollars, like before.[/i] That is completely the opposite of the truth. Default in dollars, and then it is harder to borrow dollars. This is a really, really good thing. Issuing foreign-denominated debt is almost always insane. Being barred from doing something insane is a tremendous benefit to Argentina or any other country. If people don't want to save in drachmas or pesos, then the government has to tax more. Can't buy stuff on credit, have to pay for imports with exports. That's life. Works a lot better than austerity. - Calgacus Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:45:20 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-doesnt-like-french-socialists#comment-21331 Krugman, Baker, DeLong all have written about productivity and unemployment. Companies are reporting higher productivity, but the unemployment rate is not rising proportionately. There are many speculations about why this is happening, from a skills mismatch to structural unemployment to immigration visas to technology advances. Whatever it is, it doesn't bode well for labor. - S.D. Jeffries Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:42:57 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-doesnt-like-french-socialists#comment-21327 well, like Argentina, they would not be allowed to borrow in Drachma and Pesos, would have to borrow in Euros and Dollars, like before....and probably like Argentina now, they would be a mess...either way, as Krugman said, gotta get wages down to productivity, and that is the issue. The debt is only half the problem. - pete Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:28:11 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-doesnt-like-french-socialists#comment-21324 Some people at, and readers of, the Washington Post, may indeed view high unemployment in France as favourable within itself. I can think of a few reasons why. The reasons are either a) crazy, or b) disturbing, but I don't doubt that there are "logical" reasons. - watermelonpunch Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:55:42 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-doesnt-like-french-socialists#comment-21321 [quote]Some suggested they quit the Euro and become like Argentina...default rather than inflate....oops..how's that working out![/quote] pete, the pain would have ended a long time ago if countries like Greece and Spain were truly allowed to pull an Argentina-style default/devaluation. - JSeydl Thu, 17 Jan 2013 05:32:21 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-doesnt-like-french-socialists#comment-21320 As Krugman pointed out, wages in Greece and Spain far outpaced productivity during the boom, hence they had further to fall. One prescription was to inflate them down, the Keynesian method. The other is to wean them down through painful unemployment. Since they were in the Eurozone, relative country inflation was not an option. Some suggested they quit the Euro and become like Argentina...default rather than inflate....oops..how's that working out! - pete Thu, 17 Jan 2013 04:28:08 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-doesnt-like-french-socialists#comment-21319 It is interesting how much of this article is basically speculation. Some companies are moving to Spain, costs are cheaper there (25% unemployment will do that) and France is at risk of "falling behind". There were no actual numbers, because if there were it would be a different story. So even based on the all-important growth numbers France is doing better and it's employment is higher. I would guess France also benefits from not having protests and random strikes over austerity measures. - Jennifer Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:05:49 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-doesnt-like-french-socialists#comment-21317 Of course unemployment is not only an end in itself; it's also a means of holding down labor costs. - foosion Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:10:00 +0100