Comments | the_recession: The Austerity Agenda

nebris in the_recession

The Austerity Agenda

Jun 01, 2012 08:59

From The NYTBy PAUL KRUGMAN ( Read more... )

tax policy, friedrich von hayek, austerity measures, distractions, david cameron, wisconsin, fascism, libertarianism, tea party politics, john maynard keynes, austrian economics, gop, social safety nets, 'capitalism', paul krugman, koch brothers, class war, starve the beast, ayn rand, corporate welfare

Comments 1

lightvortex June 2 2012, 00:17:30 UTC

With rising energy prices and diminishing availability of non-renewable energy, I don't see the economy recovering any time soon, regardless of what we do or don't do. Some courses of action are better than others, but, if we argue that we should deficit spend while the economy is weak, and the economy continues to be weak for a long time to come because of rising energy prices, then we would be running large deficits far into the future, which would have long-term consequences. On the other hand, there are things that we should be doing to adapt to the reality of energy likely no longer being cheap in the future, and not doing those things will also have long-term consequences, as will dis-investing in our children and our future in general. So I don't think that this should be assumed to be the same as any other economic down-turn in recent history. And Republicans talk a lot about reducing the deficit but don't seem to want to hold "defense" spending to the same level of scrutiny that they hold other ( ... )