You haven't really read Melville until you've read it in the original Klingon.

8:18 – "Germany is very financially responsible".

The clip makes a few good points, twists others and omits some central issues. But I want to comment on the quote above most of all, because it forms the basis for all kinds of arguments and recommendations.

The claim that Germany is financially responsible stems from what has been paraded around domestically as the "schwarze Null" (black zero), meaning a balanced budget. Given how focused most economic debates are around the national debt or the current budget deficit, it shouldn't come as a surprise that not running a deficit evokes positive responses in the public. If there has ever been an easy sell, politically, it's this.

However, it's not that simple.

For instance, the sectoral balance rule dictates, by pure accounting identity, that the sum of public balance, private balance and external balance is 0 at all times. In case of Germany, this means that the balanced public budget (no surplus, just a fat zero) requires a current account surplus of the same size as private savings – or an accumulation of private debt. For someone to run a surplus, someone else has to run a deficit. In this case, foreign economies have to run a deficit vis-á-vis Germany, so that neither the German government nor the German private sector have to run a deficit.

The composition of each sector is another topic entirely, but the point remains: no surplus in Germany without a deficit in the periphery. If everyone is to be like Germany, Klingons have to run the respective deficit.

My question: is it financially responsible to depend on other economies' deficits to keep your own house in order? Is it responsible to engage in this kind of behaviour after having locked yourself into a monetary union with less competitive economies who have no way of defending themselves through currency devaluation?

Second point: capital accounts and current accounts are two sides of the same coin. If Germany runs a current account surplus of X%, it also runs a capital account deficit of X%. Doesn't explain anything, but it's the same for the countries at the other side of these trade imbalances. Spain's current account deficit with Germany meant a capital inflow of the same size.

Let's look at EuroStat's dataset for current accounts. Germany had run a minor current account deficit during the late '90s and a small surplus up to 2003. From then on, it went up, up, up. Given the size of Germany's economy within Europe, that jump from 2% to 7.5% is enormous. Pre-GFC, the majority of this surplus went to... yap, PIIGS. Their deficits multiplied.

Subsequently, capital of equals size flowed into these countries, looking for investments. No nation, none, can absorb this amount of capital without it resulting in a massive misallocation, be it stock bubbles, housing bubbles, highways to nowhere or lavish consumption. Michael Pettis wrote a magnificent account (Syriza and the French indemnity of 1871-73) of this and explains how Germany handled a similar inflow of capital after the Franco-Prussian war: it crashed their economy.

As Pettis correctly points out, the question of causality remains. Was the capital flow a pull or a push?

The dataset linked above says it all happened at just about the same time, in all countries. It also happened at the same time as Germany's parliament signed of on "Agenda 2010", which is the cause of massive wage suppression in Germany. Germany intentionally lowered its unit labour costs and undercut the agreed upon inflation target (2%). German employees and retirees were forced to live below their means, so the export sector could gain competitiveness against all the other nations, including those in the same currency union. Beggar-thy-neighbour on steroids.

Greece overshot the inflation target. They lived beyond their means. But due to their size, it's economically negligable. France stayed on point the entire time, has higher productivity than Germany and still gets defamed as the lame duck of Europe. Yet Germany, after more than a decade of financial warfare against its fellow members of the EU/EZ, is hailed as the beacon of financial responsibility.

Mercantilism always comes at the cost of others. And the EU is living proof.

When I first watched TNG, back in my youth, I didn't really think Riker was all that amazing. I mean, how can you compete with Picard, Data, Worf, etc? But when I rewatched the remastered release of the show recently, I realized . . . Riker is the biggest boss in the Star Trek universe, bar none. (And yes, that includes Kirk. I went there!)

I mean, of course he gets all the ladies, but he also plays the trombone, fights Klingons, eats Klingon food, arouses Klingon ladies, is a crack shot with a phaser, is an excellent tactician that thinks outside the box, knows several martial arts, is a master poker player, good at chess, and has a beard that makes Chuck Norris pale in comparison. (I FREAKING WENT THERE!)

Riker is glorious, and I am completely serious when I say that.
(See? No sarcasm tag.)

Yeah, who was the guy speaking Klingon?

Star Trek did have beer bellied Klingons as I recall.

Klingons with glasses are just too sophisticated for my taste.

If this were an issue of The Boys his leg would have simply gone through, cutting him in half. Also, did he kill her with a D'k tahg? (Klingon dagger)

Cloaked Klingon bird of prey?

Send in the Klingons.

*related=http://videosift.com/video/Your-First-Lesson-in-the-Klingon-Language

Klingon Course 6: Flirting has been added as a related post - related requested by Fusionaut on that post.

Your First Lesson in the Klingon Language has been added as a related post - related requested by Fusionaut.

Isn't "blahpook" Klingon for "awesome"?

>> ^aimpoint:

closed captioning isnt working for me


English Subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9sFyY9LN0M from http://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/11igwf/klingon_propaganda/c6nj8pc ... Maybe, therealblankman should replace it.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'klingon, star trek, military, navy, KAPLAGH, propganda' to 'klingon, star trek, military, navy, KAPLAGH, propaganda' - edited by Fusionaut