Stats for nerds
1recommend
3mentions
2people
2015–2018years
33% recommend67% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- The Euro and the design of the European Union economic system is turning into a prime example of groupthink and denial. There is a very good book on the subject that goes through it all from the start: Eurozone Dystopia https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eurozone-Dystopia-Groupthink-Denial...
- The article I read that in originally references a mixture of private and "IFI funding"[1] which I took to mean International Financial Institutions (which includes IMF/WorldBank etc. who make loans denominated in USD)[2].
The book I referenced above is by John Perkins who worked as a consultant for a company who would justify huge loans denominated in USD for power infrastructure to developing nations, but a significant majority of the work and materials would come from US companies. So the World Bank or the IMF would loan tonnes of money to someone in USD, much of it being transferred directly to companies in the US anyway, and leaving the nation with a large debt to service in a currency they do not issue (leaving them vulnerable to pressure from the US to export goods, for example, even though people require them locally, to liberalised trade agreements, or even to be allies in conflict etc. all sorts of sordid shit; the John Perkins stuff is well worth reading).
When governments take on large debts denominated in a currency they do not issue, it's always a cause for concern. That's why MMT academics were against the Euro[3], and why so many developing nations are now locked into crippling debt service that they cannot possibly keep up with.
Countries like the US, UK, Australia and Japan who only issue debt (ie. all currency or treasury securities) denominated in their own currency, have no risk of insolvency and no trouble servicing the debt[4] -- they can choose to stop paying interest any time they want and indeed the "debt" people refer to in those economies is really a "buffer stock" rather than a "bond market"[5]
When a nation that does not issue USD (ie. any nation other than the US) takes on USD denominated debt, with interest payments denominated in USD, they're up shit creek without a paddle.
[1] http://www.worldfinance.com/infrastructure-investment/projec...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_financial_instit...
[3] http://www.amazon.com/Eurozone-Dystopia-Groupthink-Denial-Gr...
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i35uBVeNp6c
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soVyyyXrcwo&index=6&list=PLo...
- Anyone who follows the work of Randall Wray[1] and Bill Mitchell[2] knows this is a terrible idea. Relinquishing sovereignty of your currency (or pegging it to another currency or commodity) only narrows domestic policy space.
[1] http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i35uBVeNp6c
[2] http://www.amazon.com/Eurozone-Dystopia-Groupthink-Denial-Gr...
