Reidlr
Constitutionalist
- Apr 26, 2010
- 101
- 26
- 6
Due to the recent financial crash in Greece, the question has come up on whether or not the US should provide a "bailout" for a foriegn country. The question is a mute point.
The US contributes a larger percentage of funds to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) than any of the other 186 countries (see below link). Therefore, the US is going to provide a "bailout" to Greece anyway.
IMF Members' Quotas and Voting Power, and IMF Board of Governors
I propose a more pertinent question. Should the US, during our own economic crisis, contribute such a large percentage of funds to the IMF? IMO, our country should not contribute any funds to the IMF, but that is not realistic. The US is in this for the long haul whether the US public likes it or not. With that said, the IMF has developed a quota system that is determined by a formula. That formula has determined our current required quota.
Problem number one, a country's deficit is not considered in the quota formula. Also, 50% of the formula is GDP. Currently in the US, just over 40% of our GDP covers government run programs and therefore is not a true measure of our GDP. Our country is not in the position to be provided funds to any country, much less a country like Greece that has turned itself into a nanny state that essentially broke itself. The recent proposal by the European Union (EU) and IMF, is to hand Greece $145 billion in assistance funds. The IMF would contribute a total of $40 billion. Remember that the US is currently on tap to provide 17% of total funds to the IMF, thats $6.8 billion in US dollars to bailout a country of the EU. It gets worse, earlier this week the European Union (EU) proposed a $1 trillion "bailout" for Greece. Which would put the US on the hook for more tax payer money to assist Greece.
Yesterday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced an amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill, currently being debated in the Senate, that would bar American taxpayers from bailing out irresponsible foreign governments. This amendment should get support from bothsides of the eisle, but I doubt that will happen.
There are two reasons why Amercia should not be providing funds to support Greece.
1) Greece is a member of the EU! The EU is an economic competitor to the US. Would Microsoft bailout Apple? I know much smaller scale, but still basic economics. 2) We can't afford it!
Your thoughts!
The US contributes a larger percentage of funds to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) than any of the other 186 countries (see below link). Therefore, the US is going to provide a "bailout" to Greece anyway.
IMF Members' Quotas and Voting Power, and IMF Board of Governors
I propose a more pertinent question. Should the US, during our own economic crisis, contribute such a large percentage of funds to the IMF? IMO, our country should not contribute any funds to the IMF, but that is not realistic. The US is in this for the long haul whether the US public likes it or not. With that said, the IMF has developed a quota system that is determined by a formula. That formula has determined our current required quota.
The newly agreed quota formula is a weighted average of GDP (weight of 50 percent), openness (30 percent), economic variability (15 percent), and international reserves (5 percent).
Problem number one, a country's deficit is not considered in the quota formula. Also, 50% of the formula is GDP. Currently in the US, just over 40% of our GDP covers government run programs and therefore is not a true measure of our GDP. Our country is not in the position to be provided funds to any country, much less a country like Greece that has turned itself into a nanny state that essentially broke itself. The recent proposal by the European Union (EU) and IMF, is to hand Greece $145 billion in assistance funds. The IMF would contribute a total of $40 billion. Remember that the US is currently on tap to provide 17% of total funds to the IMF, thats $6.8 billion in US dollars to bailout a country of the EU. It gets worse, earlier this week the European Union (EU) proposed a $1 trillion "bailout" for Greece. Which would put the US on the hook for more tax payer money to assist Greece.
Yesterday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced an amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill, currently being debated in the Senate, that would bar American taxpayers from bailing out irresponsible foreign governments. This amendment should get support from bothsides of the eisle, but I doubt that will happen.
There are two reasons why Amercia should not be providing funds to support Greece.
1) Greece is a member of the EU! The EU is an economic competitor to the US. Would Microsoft bailout Apple? I know much smaller scale, but still basic economics. 2) We can't afford it!
Your thoughts!