On a bit of a low note....

[Geneva]

At this point, I'd be willing to wager, everybody is sick of hearing about the global economic crisis. I know I am.

But I'm curious to know how different countries view the crisis as a whole. How it's reported, interpretted, etc.

A recent blow up in Europe is the IMF agreeing to bail out Ireland with an emergency loan of €90,000,000,000. That's a lot of zeros but it's also coming with a 5% interest rate.

I'd imagine some of the countries in Europe must be more than a little upset that their tax payer's money is going to the Irish.
Although, we here in Ireland are opposing said bailout with tooth and nail through marches and protests. Not that that seems to be doing anything.

So what's the rest of the world's interpretation. Is there any animosity in your part of the world? Do you just think the entire idea stupid? Or maybe you even think it a good idea?

I remember, that during the Greek crisis, people had this anarchic image of Greece being up in flames with breadlines and hourly riots. It was nonsense of course but is the same idea there for Ireland as well?

I'm also curious to see how American view the whole ordeal. Although, as a seperate continent, it probably isn't the highlight of their news broadcasts.

Any comments?

[Inquisitor Stingray]

Dec 16, 2010 13:41:39 GMT Geneva said:

I remember, that during the Greek crisis, people had this anarchic image of Greece being up in flames with breadlines and hourly riots. It was nonsense of course but is the same idea there for Ireland as well?

Not really. We do get the impression that you guys drink a lot, though.

[Hellbreaker]

Dec 16, 2010 14:11:51 GMT Inquisitor Stingray said:

Dec 16, 2010 13:41:39 GMT Geneva said:

I remember, that during the Greek crisis, people had this anarchic image of Greece being up in flames with breadlines and hourly riots. It was nonsense of course but is the same idea there for Ireland as well?

Not really. We do get the impression that you guys drink a lot, though.

Pretty much this. I just got the impression that Irish banks screwed up, and now the EU are helping them fix it, or something.
Sweden is however occupied a bit more with terrorists to really make that any top news.

Cheers!

[Devil's Advocate]

For those of us in the US who actually listen to international news...

Ireland's part of the financial blah blah blah.. We see or hear about some protests, but no violence or rioting. We hear about the austerity pledges and how germany (in particular) is pissed off. I've also been hearing how irelands emigration rate is the highest in decades - and it's all young people who want to work, leaving ireland bereft of desperately needed labor. According to the new I listen to, Ireland has a very generous tax structure for corporations who go there, but even with all that, there's still no work, since there's no money to pay new hires.

What I haven't heard is how other nations (greece and ireland) got into the mess in the first place.

[Inquisitor Stingray]

Dec 16, 2010 14:50:18 GMT Hellbreaker said:

Dec 16, 2010 14:11:51 GMT Inquisitor Stingray said:

Not really. We do get the impression that you guys drink a lot, though.

Pretty much this. I just got the impression that Irish banks screwed up, and now the EU are helping them fix it, or something.
Sweden is however occupied a bit more with terrorists to really make that any top news.

Cheers!

But you have that guy from Kopps to defend you!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3KKnTrOaN4

[Hyper Kinetic]

Although I will admit that I am not up to date on news...
As far as I can tell, for Australia the financial crisis was more of a niggling threat than anything substantial. Yeah, things took a down turn... but it sort of glazed over fairly quickly.
A lot of the problem was felt by those nearing retirement as their superannuation was halved or worse, and I guess that will probably still be an issue.
But, overall, it's almost past us.

[The Tomato]

Dec 16, 2010 15:44:49 GMT Devil's Advocate said:

What I haven't heard is how other nations (greece and ireland) got into the mess in the first place.

Got into what mess, the financial chricis?

[wormwood]

The US media is trying to downplay the significance and magnatude of the situation to prevent a panic. The data points to a continuing cycle of market contraction fueled by persistent joblessness and layoffs, but the way it's reported, they never juxtapose all the relevant information to help people who aren't paying close attention grasp the big picture. Whenever the topic is mentioned, it's always coupled with claims that there's been no worsening of the situation, and that modest growth is trending toward recovery.

The truth is that huge numbers of Americans have been unemployed for a year or two now, and that the jobs created in recent months are fewer than the numbers of college graduates produced during the same period, and those new jobs are not good jobs that will replace the jobs lost thus far.

Now the number being reported for unemployment, is only the number of people who have initially applied for unemployment in the past month. In this way the government doesn't have to admit how many people are still collecting benefits from having lost their jobs in previous months, or how many people have been unemployed so long that they are no longer eligible for unemployment benefits. Just because there aren't more applications for unemployment being filed than there were in the previous month, doesn't mean that the ranks of the unemployed aren't swelling at a frightening rate. With each round of economic contraction, all businesses get a little leaner and meaner, until eventually they begin to sacrifice functionality, and at that point the rate of layoffs decreases, or the labor cutting companies fold.

Imagine you had a head wound that dumped a pint of your blood in the first minute, then another pint in the second minute, in the third minute you only bled 3/4 of a pint, and someone had the nerve to tell you that this decrease indicated you were recovering.

Our economy is bleeding out quickly, and our press is lying about it!

On the regulatory side, the Federal reserve is hastily driving nails into our economy's coffin by printing money to devalue our currency. This leads to inflation which always moves ahead of payroll increases, which reduces the buying power of consumers and forces another round of economic contraction as perceived demand for goods decreases.

Printing money is a stop gap measure that in some circumstances can help a nation with a manufacturing based economy, by making their goods more affordable to foreign markets. This can temporarily tip a trade imbalance in favor of the country that just devalued its currency. This tactic will destroy a service based economy like that of the US.

[Thlaylie]

The Federal government is not very smart.

When they gave employers money to create jobs they should have also made sure to tax them on all that money unless they could show they actually were hiring people.

As it is the demos gave away all that money for promises.

That and sueing one of it's own states for "unconstitutional" treatment of illegal aliens that are not covered by the constitution since they are not citizens?