Germans don't take too kindly to Obama's pontificating on debt crisis

by Clifford F. Thies

The Finance Minister of Germany, Wolfgang Schäuble, dismissed President Obama's and Treasury Secretary Geithner's advise concerning the European debt crisis. "It's always easier to give other people advice," he is quoted in Der Spiegel. Other Germans have expressed themselves less tactfully.

Not even considering the underlying cause of the debt crisis, the United States has national deficit similar in size to those in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, that are simply impossible for the northern Europeans to absorb. The time is now past for the nations on the periphery of the Eurozone to talk about reducing their deficits some time in the future. They have already failed to bring their deficits down, and now must be disciplined by the markets of the world.

And, what about the United States, with our national deficit, and with our unfunded public employee pensions, the insolvency of Social Security and other entitlement programs, and off-budget guarantees, altogether something like 80 trillion dollars? When will we be disciplined by the markets of the world? Or, it the President thinking that the northern Europeans will bail us out too?

No, President Obama, instead of lecturing the countries of the world that are actually bringing their budgets into balance, how about you make a proposal to actually bring the U.S. budget into balance? How about you stop talking about reducing the rate of increase in the deficit, as though delaying financial catastrophe were a responsible position, you talking about reducing the deficit? And, look, if you have to raise the tax rate on people who work to 80 percent or even 120 percent, just be out with it.

Dr. Thies is a professor of economics at Shenandoah Univ. in Virginia. Photo h/t Greekcrisis.net