Posted on 12/30/2011 11:53:26 AM PST by Beave Meister
The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury. So declared John Maynard Keynes in 1937, even as F.D.R. was about to prove him right by trying to balance the budget too soon, sending the United States economy which had been steadily recovering up to that point into a severe recession. Slashing government spending in a depressed economy depresses the economy further; austerity should wait until a strong recovery is well under way.
Unfortunately, in late 2010 and early 2011, politicians and policy makers in much of the Western world believed that they knew better, that we should focus on deficits, not jobs, even though our economies had barely begun to recover from the slump that followed the financial crisis. And by acting on that anti-Keynesian belief, they ended up proving Keynes right all over again.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If we went into the downturn with a reasonable budget/debt management system in place, the stimulus might have worked. But we are too far gone. Not much is going to us out of this mess.
This is the same “expert” who shouted down anyone who questioned Obama’s massive spending (kick-backs) during the slump?
He needs to take a long hike off a short pier with Obammy’s czars.
And they say drug use is a victimless crime.
"Excuse me asking, Your Excellency, but didn't Obama say we were in a recovery?"
Government spending grew by 7.7% per year during Obama’s first 2 years. Meanwhile inflation for the first 2 years of his administration was 0.65%. GDP grew 0.82% during the same period. So he grew government ~12 times the rate of inflation and ~9 times the rate the whole economy grew.
Yeah, sounds like very austere budgeting.
Lying liars printed in a cesspool rag.
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