James Galbraith:
“The world has been slow to realize that we are living this
year in the shadow of one of the greatest economic catastrophes of modern history.”
The rest:Statement by James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen, jr., Chair in Government/Business Relations, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin and Senior Scholar, Levy Economics Institute, before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, Hearings on the Conduct of Monetary Policy, February 26, 2009.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, it is again a privilege to appear today at these hearings, which as a member of the staff I worked on from their inception in 1975.
In 1930, John Maynard Keynes wrote, “The world has been slow to realize that we are living this year in the shadow of one of the greatest economic catastrophes of modern history.” That catastrophe was the Great Crash of 1929, the collapse of money values, the destruction of the banking system. The questions before us today are: is the crisis we are living through similar? And if so, are we taking adequate steps to deal with it? I believe the answers are substantially yes, and substantially no.
This statement covers six areas very briefly:
- Why the baseline forecast is too optimistic, and why the recovery bill was too small.
- Why low interest rates will have limited effectiveness going forward.
- Why the banking plan will not work.
- Why Social Security and Medicare are not part of the problem, but of the solution.
- How to keep people in their homes, and
- Why our long-term infrastructure and energy needs should be addressed now..
All of it: here (PDF)
year in the shadow of one of the greatest economic catastrophes of modern history.”
The rest:Statement by James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen, jr., Chair in Government/Business Relations, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin and Senior Scholar, Levy Economics Institute, before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, Hearings on the Conduct of Monetary Policy, February 26, 2009.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, it is again a privilege to appear today at these hearings, which as a member of the staff I worked on from their inception in 1975.
In 1930, John Maynard Keynes wrote, “The world has been slow to realize that we are living this year in the shadow of one of the greatest economic catastrophes of modern history.” That catastrophe was the Great Crash of 1929, the collapse of money values, the destruction of the banking system. The questions before us today are: is the crisis we are living through similar? And if so, are we taking adequate steps to deal with it? I believe the answers are substantially yes, and substantially no.
This statement covers six areas very briefly:
- Why the baseline forecast is too optimistic, and why the recovery bill was too small.
- Why low interest rates will have limited effectiveness going forward.
- Why the banking plan will not work.
- Why Social Security and Medicare are not part of the problem, but of the solution.
- How to keep people in their homes, and
- Why our long-term infrastructure and energy needs should be addressed now..
All of it: here (PDF)