Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
Shhh. Don't say this too loud because it will scare a lot of people but the austerity measures that were so widely touted for a lot of European countries a few years ago didn't really work.
It sounded so good, and made so much sense to have these plans, but when the actual plans were implemented the economies of these countries were stunted, presumedly due to the measures that got them a bailout to begin with (in part, because there are other problems). That doesn't mean we should do the exact opposite, but a little moderation is always a good start in my opinion.
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Don't want to knock the thread off topic but I don't know about that. A lot of the "austerity" was just to get them back on the road to START getting their house back into order. It's not like they were rounding up people and taking everything away and forcing them to eat only stale bread. Not sure if anybody really expected a little bit of reasonable self-control to suddenly fix everything quickly and in a tidy fashion. Of course their economies were stunted, trying to get off the road to bankruptcy will do that. And a lot of people and business that need financial help often need multiple doses - nevermind that their lavish dinners eating out were stunted.
Hell, even in the midst (as late as 2012) of their financial crisis countries like Greece were still do crazy **** like declaring pedophilia a "disability" and offering financial benefits for them along with pyromanias and kleptomaniacs as well. Can you imagine how much more overboard they'd get without at least some minor semblance of restraint or oversight?