New Lefty Bane: Austerity
The anti-austerity crowd - big government types of all sorts from Krugman and Stiglitz to union bosses - are waging a desperate campaign to discredit the austerity programs embarked upon in Europe in the face of the sovereign debt crisis. See here, here, and here for example (and that sample is merely one MSM outlet beating up on just one austerity-pushing leader). There is only one problem. The facts on the ground aren't cooperating. The pound is strengthening as retailing and manufacturing are looking up. Debt investors love the direction, sending UK companies' bonds up in price. Home prices are up (bonus UK version of "Unexpectedly"). And it is not just the UK, good news is breaking out all over Europe.
Of course, Europe walked to the edge of the abyss, stared down in, and got a little religion, sense, whatever you want to call it. The one word summary of this newfound economic sense is commonly referred to as "austerity". And it is the bane of statists/liberals/collectivists/progressives everwhere. You see if it works in Europe, hell, it can work in other places too, and if a little bit works, why some dastardly bugger might suggest more than a little bit. What would become of the long march to progressive utopia then? The thought is almost too much to contemplate, so it's all hands to the ramparts - "austerity" must go down in flames. Naturally the media are falling into line and austerity is universally associated with doom and gloom. Of course, go back and it was the lack of austerity - consumer borrowing and spending - that was the recipe for disaster. Now that same formula, if only performed by the government, is the only possible elixir for our ills. Funny that, the same behavior exhibited by you and me is bad unless perfomed by the government, in which case it is clearly good, necessary even.
Just a quick note on Stiglitz. This guy was preaching "aid to states" from the rafters in the months leading up to the failed stimulus, and he got his wish. In spades I might add, with the extra aid for teachers' jobs that just went through. Nearly everything that Obama and the Pelosicrats have done has contained massive aid to the states, and yet the states' as well the national picture looks no better. When is a heavy-weight economist going to come out and call ole' Aid to States Joe out on the carpet?
Of course, Europe walked to the edge of the abyss, stared down in, and got a little religion, sense, whatever you want to call it. The one word summary of this newfound economic sense is commonly referred to as "austerity". And it is the bane of statists/liberals/collectivists/progressives everwhere. You see if it works in Europe, hell, it can work in other places too, and if a little bit works, why some dastardly bugger might suggest more than a little bit. What would become of the long march to progressive utopia then? The thought is almost too much to contemplate, so it's all hands to the ramparts - "austerity" must go down in flames. Naturally the media are falling into line and austerity is universally associated with doom and gloom. Of course, go back and it was the lack of austerity - consumer borrowing and spending - that was the recipe for disaster. Now that same formula, if only performed by the government, is the only possible elixir for our ills. Funny that, the same behavior exhibited by you and me is bad unless perfomed by the government, in which case it is clearly good, necessary even.
Just a quick note on Stiglitz. This guy was preaching "aid to states" from the rafters in the months leading up to the failed stimulus, and he got his wish. In spades I might add, with the extra aid for teachers' jobs that just went through. Nearly everything that Obama and the Pelosicrats have done has contained massive aid to the states, and yet the states' as well the national picture looks no better. When is a heavy-weight economist going to come out and call ole' Aid to States Joe out on the carpet?
posted by Donny Baseball at 3:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home