Economics is, really, dollar-denominated sociology. As such, there's a flaw in the "economics" system.
...So, let's put all this together. The economic system we've set up isn't
a thing in its own right. It doesn't have a nature, and therefore it
doesn't have laws of its own. Economics is just a human activity.
Thus, the relevant laws to economics seem to be our laws, that is, they are consequences of our
nature. Human nature includes the danger of starvation and the
suffering of pain. It also includes this dangerous incapacity to always
cleanly distinguish between what our mind tells us about the world and
the world itself. Where we've set up a system that is fragile instead
of antifragile, systemic collapse is our fault and should be our
responsibility. In this case, the Germans' outsized influence on the
system suggests outsized German responsibility. They have created much
of this problem by acting as if it were possible to impose laws on
economics that don't take account of human nature. All economic laws are
located in us.
On the other hand, human nature also includes a robust self-love that
corrupts us when we try to treat each other fairly. Greeks have behaved
in accord with human nature, but not wisely or well. Making exceptions
for those who have behaved unwisely is a serious business. It has to
be done in a way that doesn't make exception-seeking an attractive
proposition for other nations (such as Portugal or Spain).
If that can't be worked out, then we should bow to human nature and let
the Greeks take care of themselves -- out of the Euro, and out from
under the control of its rules. The rules are unwise, and the
philosophy behind them likewise. Because it mistakes the locus of the
laws, it thinks you can have economic laws that are detached from human
nature. That can only lead to systemic collapses such as this one. We
should expect to see more, whether the Germans or the Greeks "win,"
unless the whole set of rules is re-examined to take account of human
nature in its fullness.
Yes.
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