Germany wants to take control of the Greek budget ?!

[opebo]

would be ok if the german budget were also controlled by the EU.

[opebo]

The problem is not this country, or that country, it's a faulty conception of economics that says austerity and other contractionary measures will lead to growth.

this 'conception of economics' didn't emerge in a vacuum.  it dates back to the 70s, when the precedent was set in these situations to privilege creditors over citizens in cases of excessive sovereign debt.  and it continues to today.  the austerity policies are backed by finance capital (and their shill media) with the intent of keeping inflation near zero at all costs, as to not deflate the value of their interest payments.

Beautifully put, absolutely correct.

[opebo]

Whose going to take over our budget after more wreckless spending?

'Reckless' is the word you're looking for, young whipper-snapper, though the phrase 'woefully inadequate' would be more apropos.

[opebo]

angus, regarding your claims about the German military - you're much overstating the case, and in after all it is merely a historical case - Tweed was not wrong in claiming that right now, the US is enormously stronger than any other State. The greatest fascist/military power in human history by far is the one you call home - the Germans a mere also-ran, the Japanese a mere footnote, and the Chinese nothing more than a fanciful idea.

Leaving aside the fact Tweed was talking about the present, not ancient history, let me address the historical issue as well - not only was the US enormously more productive of military power than Germany during the second world war, it wasn't even the US that defeated them - it was Russia.  So, case closed - can't even beat Russia.

And don't worry to much about the old superpower in 50 years time  - reports of its decline are as always much exaggerated (after all speculation about radical change makes a better story than 'US will continue to be the central power in the world for the foreseeable future).

[opebo]

The average male height in the US has gone from being the tallest to being the 17th tallest.  And there are a number of other indicators.

Well, you know that impoverishing the vast majority is policy, angus - thus their shrinking stature.

All the countries that are taller on average than the US are Western Europeans who are simply more socialist and therefore in better overall condition.  Height is most likely a counter-indicator to power.

[opebo]

...Wikipedia says...

Wikipedia?!  Really?

Well, anyway, that's the standard wisdom here.  It's what I've always heard as well.  Although, now that I know that this is what Wikipedia says I can't help but suspect its accuracy.

Gustaf, mere words cannot express my severe disappointment in you just now.  Please, don't ever begin a debate rebuttle by saying, "well, Wikipedia says..."

It's like saying, "Well, my grandmother, who dropped out of school in the seventh grade says.."

Actually, it's worse than that, because at least you know your grandmother.  At least you love her and can be excused for believing her.  But to quote some article in a non-scholarly, non-edited source, probably written by a seventh grader, is in bad form.

You're being a snob, angus.  You are now playing a game called 'internet', and on this game, the wikipedia is the source of information.  Its like playing Scrapple using the Scrapple dictionary.  You really can't critique it for not being a 'real dictionary' when you already decided to play the game.

[opebo]

Had the Germans been required to return to a simple, agrarian lifestyle, and been broken into their original several dozen small countries, they would have been much less trouble.

We could have allowed the technical germans like Dr. Stranglelove to emigrate to the US as many of them did anyway.