Beyond Labels

A 360° Discussion of Foreign, National and Local Policy Issues

Uncategorized

Description

Greek Economic Situation

A few odd bits that I found during our discussion.

Who works harder? The industrious, prosperous Germans, or the lazy, indebted Greeks.  According to this article in the Economist, the Greeks (at least those with jobs) worked nearly 50% more hours than their German counterparts in 2012. Similar results here, in the Washington Post. Source data here

And this article excerpts a longer interview with Thomas Pikkety in which he points out the hypocrisy of Germany’s insistence that Greece pay its debts.

When I hear the Germans say that they maintain a very moral stance about debt and strongly believe that debts must be repaid, then I think: what a huge joke! Germany is the country that has never repaid its debts.

As we know, Germany solved its post-WWI debt problem by starting World War II. Post-war Germany was burdened with debts of about 200% of GDP. Under the London Debt Agreement of 1953

…the repayable amount was reduced by 50% to about 15 billion marks and stretched out over 30 years, and compared to the fast-growing German economy were of minor impact.[2]

An important term of the agreement was that repayments were only due while West Germany ran a trade surplus, and that repayments were limited to 3% of export earnings. This gave Germany’s creditors a powerful incentive to import German goods, assisting reconstruction

Ironically, Greece was among the nations that entered into the agreement forgiving German debts.

Ebola: did “we” make a difference?

“We” = the US or possibly the world.

I offer no conclusions but offer this as interesting information.

Here’s some info:

Graph of Ebola cases. The graph shows the bad patterns.

You have to look twice to realize that the really bad period, exponential growth, was really short lived.

If was followed by rather significant linear growth, which then broke in Nov ’14 in Liberia and Jan ’15 in Sierra Leone.

Graphic showing US (military) action at a glance, here.

That Chocolate Study

Here’s an analysis of the junk science paper mentioned in today’s meeting. The paper was based on badly done science and went viral. The author of the paper, had written it to prove how easy it is to get people to believe things that aren’t true because they want to. Surprisingly, according to this analysis, his conclusion is probably correct, but certainly not justified by his “study.”

http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/05/30/that-chocolate-study/

“Slim by Chocolate!” the headlines blared. A team of German researchers had found that people on a low-carb diet lost weight 10 percent faster if they ate a chocolate bar every day. It made the front page of Bild, Europe’s largest daily newspaper, just beneath their update about the Germanwings crash. From there, it ricocheted around the internet and beyond, making news in more than 20 countries and half a dozen languages. It was discussed on television news shows. It appeared in glossy print, most recently in the June issue of Shape magazine (“Why You Must Eat Chocolate Daily,” page 128). Not only does chocolate accelerate weight loss, the study found, but it leads to healthier cholesterol levels and overall increased well-being. The Bild story quotes the study’s lead author, Johannes Bohannon, Ph.D., research director of the Institute of Diet and Health: “The best part is you can buy chocolate everywhere.”

I am Johannes Bohannon, Ph.D. Well, actually my name is John, and I’m a journalist. I do have a Ph.D., but it’s in the molecular biology of bacteria, not humans. The Institute of Diet and Health? That’s nothing more than a website.

  • Subscribe via Email

    Receive email notification of new posts/announcements about our weekly meeting.

    Join 238 other subscribers
  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments