From Paul Krugman in the NY Times: That '30s Feeling: "Suddenly, creating jobs is out, inflicting pain is in. Condemning deficits and refusing to help a still-struggling economy has become the new fashion everywhere ..."
Many economists feel that this hawkish turn to austerity trend is a huge mistake. It raises memories of 1937, when F.D.R.’s premature attempt to balance the budget helped plunge a recovering economy back into severe recession.
And as if on cue, from Alan Greenspan wrties in the WSJ:
"U.S. Debt and the Greece AnalogyAn urgency to rein in budget deficits seems to be gaining some traction among American lawmakers. If so, it is none too soon."
Now, as you probably guessed, I am a budget/debt/spending hawk, so far be it from me to say "keep spending"; but is this the time?? Right now? Perhaps a law should be enacted which has a trigger to reign in spending when the GDP, unemployment rate (or other metric) improves. Because if there is one thing we know about Big Government, its that they will NEVER do with less. When things DO turn around, they will forget this mess and start pulling out their (read: your) wallet again to spend us into oblivion!
Many economists feel that this hawkish turn to austerity trend is a huge mistake. It raises memories of 1937, when F.D.R.’s premature attempt to balance the budget helped plunge a recovering economy back into severe recession.
And as if on cue, from Alan Greenspan wrties in the WSJ:
"U.S. Debt and the Greece AnalogyAn urgency to rein in budget deficits seems to be gaining some traction among American lawmakers. If so, it is none too soon."
Now, as you probably guessed, I am a budget/debt/spending hawk, so far be it from me to say "keep spending"; but is this the time?? Right now? Perhaps a law should be enacted which has a trigger to reign in spending when the GDP, unemployment rate (or other metric) improves. Because if there is one thing we know about Big Government, its that they will NEVER do with less. When things DO turn around, they will forget this mess and start pulling out their (read: your) wallet again to spend us into oblivion!
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