Utopia Talk - Politics

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The current time is Tue Apr 21 19:51:15 UTC 2026

Utopia Talk / Politics / holy shit!

Sam Adams
rank Tue Apr 21 17:51:19
A politician said something intelligent.

German Chancellor Merz: "With 450 million consumers, we are already larger than the United States. We must break free from what is holding us back. We are being slowed down by labor costs, energy prices, taxes, and social contributions."

Pillz
rank Tue Apr 21 18:27:41
Another 50 million refugees will fix it

Sam Adams
rank Tue Apr 21 18:47:28
Merkel is probably the second worse German ever.

Karl marx is hard to beat... Lol

Seb
rank Tue Apr 21 19:14:38
"We are being slowed down by labor costs"

If your plan for prosperity is to make everyone poorer is that really going to help?

The only real way to decrease labour costs in proportion to revenues without cutting wages (which decreases demand) is to increase population. This both reduces wage growth through labour market supply/demand but also increases demand (more people, more aggregate demand).

"energy prices"
Very true, but what's driven the energy price rises? Dependency on fossil fuels. Renewables are raking it in. A European civil nuclear program would be a good idea.

"
taxes, and social contributions."

Seb
rank Tue Apr 21 19:21:44
"taxes and social contributions" - aren't really holding back growth. Rather it's sustained it both in terms of public investments (e.g. maintaining and building roads is always good for growth and delivers large positive RoI) or by sustaining demand and preventing recessions becoming deflationary spirals and economic scarring.

A quick look at US macro and UK macro and Eurozone macro since 2008 shows that public investment and countercyclical stimulus (including welfare) boosts growth; austerity and tax cuts doesn't and in fact can lead to protracted stagnation.

The US is weird in that it can both continue to splurge on public spending while waffling about austerity and cutting taxes because of the dollar reserve status.

The eurozone could have a slice of that exorbitant privilege if it allowed joint borrowing backed by the ECB.

But also notice how all the economic benefits of growth accrue to capital and median wage is very flat. The question is whether there population is there to serve the economy or vice versa. Most Europeans would say the latter.

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Sam Adams rank	Tue Apr 21 17:51:19 A politician said something intelligent. German Chancellor Merz: "With 450 million consumers, we are already larger than the United States. We must break free from what is holding us back. We are being slowed down by labor costs, energy prices, taxes, and social contributions."
Pillz rank	Tue Apr 21 18:27:41 Another 50 million refugees will fix it
Sam Adams rank	Tue Apr 21 18:47:28 Merkel is probably the second worse German ever. Karl marx is hard to beat... Lol
Seb rank	Tue Apr 21 19:14:38 "We are being slowed down by labor costs" If your plan for prosperity is to make everyone poorer is that really going to help? The only real way to decrease labour costs in proportion to revenues without cutting wages (which decreases demand) is to increase population. This both reduces wage growth through labour market supply/demand but also increases demand (more people, more aggregate demand). "energy prices" Very true, but what's driven the energy price rises? Dependency on fossil fuels. Renewables are raking it in. A European civil nuclear program would be a good idea. " taxes, and social contributions."
Seb rank	Tue Apr 21 19:21:44 "taxes and social contributions" - aren't really holding back growth. Rather it's sustained it both in terms of public investments (e.g. maintaining and building roads is always good for growth and delivers large positive RoI) or by sustaining demand and preventing recessions becoming deflationary spirals and economic scarring. A quick look at US macro and UK macro and Eurozone macro since 2008 shows that public investment and countercyclical stimulus (including welfare) boosts growth; austerity and tax cuts doesn't and in fact can lead to protracted stagnation. The US is weird in that it can both continue to splurge on public spending while waffling about austerity and cutting taxes because of the dollar reserve status. The eurozone could have a slice of that exorbitant privilege if it allowed joint borrowing backed by the ECB. But also notice how all the economic benefits of growth accrue to capital and median wage is very flat. The question is whether there population is there to serve the economy or vice versa. Most Europeans would say the latter.
	show deleted posts

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