Martin Wolf is getting frantic, as well he should. The austerians have brought us to the brink of a vast disaster. A recession in Europe looks more likely than not; and the question for the United States is not whether a lost decade is possible, but whether there is any plausible way to avoid one.
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Indeed. Posen’s “unduly influential voices” are my Very Serious People. And it has been an awesome spectacle watching the VSPs search, obsessively, for reasons not to fight mass unemployment. Fiscal policy must tighten to appease the invisible bond vigilantes and please the confidence fairy. Interest rates must rise because, well, um, inflation, well, no, low rates cause moral hazard — yes, that must be it.
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I don’t fully understand it. But a large part of it, it seems obvious, is the intense desire to see economics as a morality play of sin and punishment, where the sinners are, of course, workers and governments, not the bankers. Pain is not an unfortunate consequence of policies, it’s what is supposed to happen.
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I don't have much hope that things will change anytime soon, unless Obama's reelection chances get much worse.
Got a buncha guys crawling all over my house today, putting on a new roof. My job will be keeping the Dingo Sisters pacified, being they don't like strangers (a Cattle Dog trait) and are chomping at the bit to take a piece outta somebody's ass for making all the noise that's disturbing their morning nap.
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