by system failure
The birth of both these acronyms comes from the widely used marketing practice that makes some things easier to remember and stigmatize. The whole story was actually an invention by the modern, mainstream economic school.
On the one hand, the bad "students" of the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain), conveniently placed in such an order to be "nailed" in everyone's mind as something repulsive, like a dirty pig. On the other, the "good examples" of the emerging economies BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), placed in such an order to remind someone that some countries are trying to build their economies wisely, brick by brick.
Of course, all this mainstream perception was created fifteen or twenty years ago, when the West was certain that neoliberalism would manage to conquer the whole planet. The big irony of the whole story, is that PIIGS were always playing by the rules of the neoliberal bubble-style economy, and, especially when the crisis hit Greece and eurozone, they became the scapegoat of this crisis.
And while the system managed to blame the Greek public for all the catastrophe in Greece, hiding the huge responsibilities of the bankers who were rescued at the expense of the taxpayers, no one really understands why Ireland should be stigmatized as being sometimes part of the PIIGS. The crisis there was clearly caused by the banks. How the Celtic tiger became suddenly a pig?
Russia's economy was literally destroyed by the IMF in the late 90s and yet the country was put in the BRICS as a model that someone should follow. Not that we shouldn't expect such thing. Today, IMF new victim, Greece, is treated with a similar absurdity: when the Greek government (mostly previous government), obeys to the IMF destructive policies, is rewarded with the next dose of liquidity (like a junkie who begs for the next dose), but when chooses to resist (mostly current government), is being punished. Latest example is Greece's exclusion from the new QE program by Draghi.
Complete story at - the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens: PIIGS and BRICS unite!
The birth of both these acronyms comes from the widely used marketing practice that makes some things easier to remember and stigmatize. The whole story was actually an invention by the modern, mainstream economic school.
On the one hand, the bad "students" of the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain), conveniently placed in such an order to be "nailed" in everyone's mind as something repulsive, like a dirty pig. On the other, the "good examples" of the emerging economies BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), placed in such an order to remind someone that some countries are trying to build their economies wisely, brick by brick.
Of course, all this mainstream perception was created fifteen or twenty years ago, when the West was certain that neoliberalism would manage to conquer the whole planet. The big irony of the whole story, is that PIIGS were always playing by the rules of the neoliberal bubble-style economy, and, especially when the crisis hit Greece and eurozone, they became the scapegoat of this crisis.
And while the system managed to blame the Greek public for all the catastrophe in Greece, hiding the huge responsibilities of the bankers who were rescued at the expense of the taxpayers, no one really understands why Ireland should be stigmatized as being sometimes part of the PIIGS. The crisis there was clearly caused by the banks. How the Celtic tiger became suddenly a pig?
Russia's economy was literally destroyed by the IMF in the late 90s and yet the country was put in the BRICS as a model that someone should follow. Not that we shouldn't expect such thing. Today, IMF new victim, Greece, is treated with a similar absurdity: when the Greek government (mostly previous government), obeys to the IMF destructive policies, is rewarded with the next dose of liquidity (like a junkie who begs for the next dose), but when chooses to resist (mostly current government), is being punished. Latest example is Greece's exclusion from the new QE program by Draghi.
Complete story at - the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens: PIIGS and BRICS unite!
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