I hate being at the mercy of propaganda! Richard Heinberg and Rodrigue Tremblay offer insights on today’s chaotic world that should be part of the informed public conversation.
First, here’s where I’m coming from. I am not an expert, but I can help stimulate discussion, that might lead to better pathways:
- Effective propaganda places blame for the debt crisis on irresponsible Greeks. NO, the irresponsible people are the Big Lenders. And the Enablers of the Big Lenders are Governmental bodies that pick up the tab for loan defaults, using public money. There are no incentives for the Big Lenders to be responsible in their lending. Follow the money, honey! And note that Goldman Sachs played a large role in the 2007-08 economic meltdown that affected Greece, AND it played a role in the falsified representation of Greece’s financial status to the EU.
- The media sometimes harps on without addressing and connecting the real issues.
- Rodrigue Tremblay makes sense: Without some means of wealth-redistribution within an economic union of UNEQUAL PARTNERS, the union will fail in our current economic system. The Greeks were set up for failure within the EU. It seems to me that Tremblay’s argument contains good information and common sense. Greece and the Euro: Towards Financial Implosion (a new look), Rodrigue Tremblay
There are reports of “contagion”: the Greek crisis will be repeated in other European countries. NO, it will not be “contagion” but rather that the same conditions exist – – other countries sit on the brink of bankruptcy, too. Japan is included in the list of countries with debt as serious as the Greeks. Moving from Japan in the Far East to China and its current economic turmoil, can the work of Richard Heinberg have relevance there, as well as for Greece? . . .
- IMPORTANT, HEINBERG’S CONTRIBUTION, seeing Greece in an entirely different light:
Most of our Leadership and media fail to contemplate that a finite planet coupled with aggressive resource extraction brings us to a new phase. In Greece and elsewhere, now and even earlier, human civilization is beginning to experience “Thc End of Growth“.
It is necessary to respond to the crises with this in mind. You have to know what the actual problem is before you can creatively set out on a plan of recovery. Heinberg articulates the situation well and is a Leader in the “Where to, from here?”. (I notice also that the King of Bhutan has enlisted Heinberg.)
See Richard Heinberg’s talk on Sustainability, Growth Limits and role of Philanthropy (includes background on Heinberg)
- Richard Heinberg is well-known for his book, “The End of Growth“, among other things.
- I was fortunate to attend a talk he gave, a few years back.