Will Greece Leave the Euro?

[August1991]

Look at it this way: for every financial winner, there is a financial loser.

That's simply wrong.

Casinos are zero-sum games. Financial transactions are positive-sum games.

People thousands of years ago knew about this but it took Adam Smith, a very smart guy, to discover it.

It's like gravity, relativity or randomness; they're obvious (eventually) once someone has discovered them.

Edited May 28, 2012 by August1991

[Michael Hardner]

That's simply wrong.

Casinos are zero-sum games. Financial transactions are positive-sum games.

Very true. What you have pointed out is sometimes related (IMO) in the 'lump of labour fallacy'. Financial transactions assist and help. It is true, however, that progress always has some losers along the way. They will tend to find ways to make progress seem unfair.

[Michael Hardner]

Or, as Krugman would say, with a drachma of lower value, foreigners will find Greece to be a cheap place. Foreigners will choose Crete over Majorca. And hotel workers in Crete will get jobs, pay taxes. Or, as Vonnegut would say, and so on.

Interesting that you seem to be learning a lot from Krugman.