Stiglitz, Greenspan, Buffett: Zero probability of U.S. default

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2012Apr 24

Nobel Prize winning (2001) economist Joseph Stiglitz • Video • Video • Questions: Joseph Stiglitz in conversation... "The problem is that with the euro, you've separated out the government from the central bank and the printing presses and you've created a big problem." - Joseph Stiglitz http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04... Prospect of a default by the US or Britain is 'absurd' notion, Joe Stiglitz says http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/fi... "Yes, I do think [the United Kingdom and the United States] deserve to keep their AAA rating. The likelihood of a default is so small and particularly in the United States because all we do is print money to pay it back. To me the notion of default is so absurd is that it is another reflection of the absurdity, the irrationality of the financial markets." - Joseph Stiglitz http://bit.ly/181OUw0 Joseph Stiglitz: The proper role for the Fed is backing up Congress / 526994070647633 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/... "the Japanese government could stimulate domestic demand by printing money, in a form similar to U.S. treasury paper." - Joseph Stiglitz / 614720131875026 https://mises.org/daily/1226/The-Liqu... http://www.project-syndicate.org/comm... Former Fed chairman (1987-2006) Alan Greenspan • Greenspan: US Can Pay Any Debt It Has Beca... "Well, I wouldn't say that the pay-as-you-go benefits are insecure, in the sense that there's nothing to prevent the federal government from creating as much money as it wants and paying it to somebody. The question is, how do you set up a system which assures that the real assets are created which those benefits are employed to purchase." - Allan Greenspan • Greenspan lays the smackdown on Paul Ryan Private investor and the third wealthiest person in the world (2011, Forbes) Warren Buffett http://videos.mediaite.com/embed/play... http://www.mediaite.com/tv/warren-buf... http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/20... "We've got the right to print our own money, that's the key. Greece lost the power to print their money. If they could print drachmas they'd have other problems, but they would not have a debt problem. And seventeen countries in Europe gave up the right to print their own money. That's enormously important. And we've got the right to print our own money, so our credit is good." - Warren Buffet http://bit.ly/JCssE9 http://bit.ly/1b41Nq1 http://bloom.bg/1bOTtMH (8:20) "You have to distinguish between borrowers in their own currency (like US and Japan) and those who borrow in other currencies because creditors don't trust them. When weaker credits borrow in other currencies, it can really put you out of business really quickly. They can't print USD. That has caused failures. The EU -- it is a really interesting situation. Greece is sovereign but can't print their own currency -- they have Euro. Euro was an experiment, and it is a test case playing out here -- of a country using a common currency but is sovereign on promises to citizens. I don't know how it ends, but I'm not forecasting anything -- I just try not to watch movies like that. This will be high drama. We don't make big currency plays, and we did one a few years ago and did okay. I would say this - that events of last few years make me more bearish on ALL currencies holding value over time. If you really could run deficits of 10% of GDP and do it a long time -- world would have done it more, because that is really fun! Most understand it can't be kept up. How world weans itself off deficit financing will be interesting to watch. As long as US borrows in USD, there is no possibility of default. If world won't take USD debt, we have problem. You don't default when you print your own currency."