HowRu68

HowRu68 OP , vor 2 Monaten (Bearbeitet vor 2 Monaten) an Europe in EU lawmakers approve overhaul of budget rules

Tbx for sharing MMT economics, sounds reasonable enough. I'm no economic expert btw ;)

For sure I agree that in these time, major Investments are the only reasonable way forward, especially now. And, like you said, it's now or never.

Add NB: The viewpoint of more domestic spending is also adhered by Mario Draghi, as seen per his speech recently. (Link Speech multilingual )

At the same time, as long as we remain critical to these gvement expenditures, thus procurement, methods and goals, and watch out for corruption, mismanagement, incorrect allocations etc, we should be ok.

Besides our own immediate motives, we don't live in an isolated world; problem being that in our strategic choices as EU & memberstates we must consider the times & geopolitical tides. We must consider the actions of surrounding superpowers ( superstates and superconglomerates) ; which aren't in free-trade; are being creative by falsifying economic data, or stealing IP, have been influencing the market malevolently; are extremely subsidising their own products, but issuing tariffs to imports. Also, unlike the US ,which can issue extra" free "money, we as EU cannot.
I surely hope, that the EU guidelines, offer more choices and leeway then the old ones. For example, there's been the internal discussion of issuing EU bonds for specific goals. They are establishing and expanding funds, for future investments. How that will workout as to membership loan/GDP ratio, depends on then chosen configuration, I reckon.

HowRu68 OP , vor 2 Monaten an Europe in EU lawmakers approve overhaul of budget rules

Afaik, there ECB was and is trying to lower /cap inflation. The logic being that the (pandemic) inflation ( and interest) rate was too high , and to avoid a living cost/ wage spiral.

There will be many more expendirures to come due to, the energy transition, failing international trade, political instability, wars, climate catastrophe, migration, new virus problems, etc. If I were them, I'd up my budget reservation for " unforseen costs " to a 20% to be safe. It doesn't hurt to build some fat before difficult years.

But, how do modern economics see this?

HowRu68 OP , vor 2 Monaten an Europe in The Letta report: What’s in the box for Europe's energy sector

Energy dependency ( and competitiveness) paragraph P 62.:

True, energy costs in Europe remain higher than those of its major competitors. During the energy crisis, the EU, as other regions relying on imported fossil gas (UK, Japan, South Korea) has witnessed a trend of increased price differentials with other parts of the world. Gas prices were 3 to 6 times higher than those in the U.S, compared to 2-3 times historically and are still significantly higher today. EU electricity industrial retail prices are close to 2 times the US prices and are becoming progressively higher than in China. Such a situation will persist until the marginal price is predominantly determined by renewable and low-carbon electricity sources rather than gas. The continent's limited self-sufficiency in energy also heightens its vulnerability to sudden price shocks. In 2021, the EU's dependency on energy imports was high: 91.7% for oil, 83.4% for gas, and 37.5% for solid fossil fuels, contributing to an overall energy dependency rate of approximately 55.5%. In 2022 alone, Europe's bill for importing fossil fuels amounted to €640 billion, approximately 4.1% of its GDP. In 2023, even with lower prices, it remained close to 2.4% of the EU's GDP.

HowRu68 , vor 2 Monaten (Bearbeitet vor 2 Monaten) an Europe in Chinese spies targeting semiconductor, aerospace, maritime industries in the Netherlands to strengthen China’s armed forces, Dutch military intelligence agency claims

"It also suggests that Chinese universities play a vital intelligence-gathering role, noting that [Chinese] scientists employed by western companies often work for China’s security services and state companies."

Unfortunately, academics whom work in collaboration with China scientists in projects, have claimed similar experiences as to IP theft etc.

You can leave the CCP, but the CCP never leaves you, it seems.

HowRu68 OP , vor 2 Monaten an Europe in Kremlin spy suspect arrests may be tip of iceberg, says former German agency chief

really hope this will be taken more seriously from now on..

There's been imo much news lately about this stuff. Sometimes it feels as if it keeps "hanging " for a long time, and then there is an investigation , and suddenly, arrests.

If this news has been only " the tip of the iceberg " (in Germany and probably all of Europe), like what this expert is saying, then how big is the iceberg?

HowRu68 OP , vor 2 Monaten an Europe in China abducted its own citizens on EU territory, report finds

"Official Chinese figures show 12,000 repatriation cases from more than 120 countries as a result of the two main repatriation campaigns. These are often touted by Beijing as a major success.
It is not clear exactly how much of this is propaganda and how much is real data. To give a sense of the scale, a few years ago China managed to persuade 230,000 people to return to China in just one year as part of a special campaign in which the threat of collective punishment was also used as a means of persuasion."

So basically Chinese refuges or expats resident have never been safe. Its not something recent .And apperantly the Chinese Gvement isn't respecting the sovereignty of other countries at all.
It's a wakeupcall, our territories are "infiltrated and not safe", and now with the upcoming collaboration between Hungary and China, it will only get worse; if we don't change our ways soon.

HowRu68 OP , vor 3 Monaten an Europe in ‘The time is here’: the ex-government insider shaking up Hungarian politics

Some more background from this article :
"Magyar has pitched himself as a centrist, focusing on domestic issues – combating corruption, improving healthcare, modernising the education system and aiming to unite Hungary’s highly polarised society.
Magyar, by contrast, has said he is in favour of a foreign policy that protects Hungary’s sovereignty while maintaining a constructive relationship with the EU and Nato."