I wonder if Obama would consider that unpatriotic?

You know who else successfully dealt with this problem?

Well, for Pete's sake, stop clapping your hands, Bono!

/... when I woke up my pillow was gone!
// Woke up in the wrong joke again.

Hey infographic guy, put some pants on!

Fractional reserve banking is a biatch.

Wow, that's a lot of money!

Because soshialism!

This American Life #455 titled "Continental Breakup" offers a very good explanation for the crises in Greece, Italy, Ireland and Portugal.

Irrelevant illustration is irrelevant.

Innumeracy is a plague on society.

Did you tell them about the Twinkie?

We're gonna need some more Hitler in Europe.

Just in case the graphic didn't make it clear enough, the Euro is still farked.


/Submitter

So, a lot then?

OK, now let's see an illustration of Eurozone GDP in trucks of 100 euro bills.

It's not like those banks ever had those truckloads of money they were lending out.

I love infographics.

Yes. These are always so helpful.

Guess what? Humans can't conceive what a million or billion is. Oh, except you, you're smart.

The link to the US debt graphic was pretty bad too.

There's some serious tailgating going on there.

SmackLT: Holy crap

THIS ^ ^ ^ ^

Sorry, I only understand measurements in football fields and 747s. How many times would a chain of 5 euro notes stretch around the world?

You know, normal measurements that we can easily identify with.

Me and the gf are in wait and see mode on our Italy trip. It's gonna get REALLY cheap pretty soon, so we're thinking three weeks, instead of just two.

Jake Havechek: We're gonna need some more Hitler in Europe.

Germany's actually one of the countries doing OK.

Joe Blowme: I wonder if Obama would consider that unpatriotic?

Kinda like how republicans liked to say that if you disagreed with Bush, then you were a traitor?

France. Germany, and Benelux as an economic grouping made a lot of sense and the a common currency between those made sense. Adding in the UK and Scandinavia was far enough in that their houses were in order for the most part. Poland and the Baltic States gave you some access to cheaper labor and once again they had their economies in fairly decent order.

However at some point the whole EU lost its mind and starting thinking adding countries like Greece, Italy, and Spain was a net benefit. Countries who history was rich with economic underperformance, cooking the books on federal accounts, and all of that stuff. Yet everyone thought this was a good thing, that it made the Euro stronger, and they kept pushing for it. Sometimes I wonder if the people who do finance have every taken a history class.

/the last time all of Italy had a strong econ was when guys with the title "Caesar" were running the place
//individual city states or papal territories of course have had great success at various times

Because a drawing of a truck is much more precise and easier to comprehend than numbers in a table.

There's you're problem right there. Look at those beautiful trucks. Buy less expensive trucks you silly Europeans!

That makes me F'ing sick.

Which country has created the most billionaires? Nope, not the US and not China... it's Zimbabwe.

I wish the 18 wheeler were a standard measurement. That and football fields (american, not soccer), and the sizes of various states, and car lengths.

/stupid French, ruined everything.

Lost Thought 00: Because a drawing of a truck is much more precise and easier to comprehend than numbers in a table.

Needs more Disney-ish anthropomorphic animals.

\"Read it in the voices, mom!"

But how many Rhode Islands is it?

Lost Thought 00: Because a drawing of a truck is much more precise and easier to comprehend than numbers in a table.

In fact it is. Humans think in terms of things they can compare other things to. Nobody learns how to think about numbers without first being shown 2 apples + 3 apples.

Thanks subby! Debt to GDP % is such a difficult number to understand because you can't put it in a bunch of trucks or something.

Minimally Hairy Beer-Powered Simian: Joe Blowme: I wonder if Obama would consider that unpatriotic?

Kinda like how republicans liked to say that if you disagreed with Bush, then you were a traitor?

No, like when obama called Bush unpatriotic for adding 4 trillion to debt in 8 years.... yet he has added 5 trillion in 4 years. Like that.

They'll just grow their way out of the problem if they keep spending, right Keynesians?

Total debt of PIIGS = 2.91T Euros ($3.82T dollars)

About 133M people in those nations, that is less than $29k (dollars) per person. Not really that big a number. The US and Japan are far worse.

Why are sovereign countries borrowing money from private banks to create money? Who is holding these sovereign countries under the power of these private banks? Why don't the collectively realize that this debt situation is imaginary, and that they could all just make their own money because they are their own country? Or perhaps arrest bankers who are threatening their nation?

And aside from Greece, all of those nations were paying down their debts prior to the collapse.

So... the debt level really wasn't the problem. The shadow banking system, the rigged financial system and the fair-weather euro currency pact are the problems.
The first two for causing the collapse, the second for preventing the only tenable fixes. (coordinated economic policy, lender-of-last-resort guarantees, etc)

Seriously. Who are these bankers?

Also, xkcd did it much better.
Way to big to fit into a fark thread (new window)

You know how big their problem really is?



There's no "money" involved here. It's all ledger money, money that never really exists because it's all loaned and deposited and reloaned and redeposited until everyone thinks they have money and can pay off their loans.

I understand enough about economics to know NOBODY is 100% right. But it's pretty clear things are going to remain a bit weird for years.

Now, excuse me while I go to ponder the economic realities of space travel. Or "Why people don't do things for no reason"

Joe Blowme: Minimally Hairy Beer-Powered Simian: Joe Blowme: I wonder if Obama would consider that unpatriotic?

Kinda like how republicans liked to say that if you disagreed with Bush, then you were a traitor?

No, like when obama called Bush unpatriotic for adding 4 trillion to debt in 8 years.... yet he has added 5 trillion in 4 years. Like that.

Oh, OK, I thought you were being a hypocrite again.....carry on.

So it would take 12 semi trucks of 20 pallets (2 Billion per truck) to fix Greece's problem, but it would take enough trucks with 20 pallets to stretch 85 miles to fix the US's problems. So, how is Greece so bad after we take a good look in the mirror ourselves? Yes, their politics are far more corrupt than ours (which is no small feat), but still, their problem is a small fraction of what our problem is.

Ow! That was my feelings!: Me and the gf are in wait and see mode on our Italy trip. It's gonna get REALLY cheap pretty soon, so we're thinking three weeks, instead of just two.

Wait too long, and the natives will hunt you for your nutritous flesh.

Well then it's a good thing we bailed them out. I'll bet they are grateful for our help.

the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses (new window)