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Economic/austerity myth busters

Posted: Wed 21 Jan, 2015 4:43 pm
by ErnstRemarx
Potentially a very useful thread for FTNers, particularly if you find economics something of a black art!

http://www.pieria.co.uk/articles/the_my ... al_deficit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's the first article, from Pieria, which explains and debunks some of the crap spouted by the government. Do read it.

Re: Economic/austerity myth busters

Posted: Fri 23 Jan, 2015 4:02 am
by LadyCentauria
Very interesting article there, Ernst. I'll need to read it a few times to take it all in – not tonight! - but the final paragraph chimed with what has been, in me, a gut feeling since the onset of the financial crash; and which has only intensified since 2010:
The aftermath of a severe negative shock is no time to be worrying about "structural" deficits. Better to restore the economy first, by every means available. Dealing with what would be better named the "residual" fiscal deficit is a job for the good times.
Of course, many Conservatives (and others) endlessly repeat the refrain of 'Labour should have fixed the roof while the sun was shining.' That, of course, ignores the fact that a heck of a lot of roofs did get fixed whilst the sun was shining: school buildings, hospitals, and social housing, for starters. But to ignore the necessity of restoring the economy first, as the current Coalition Government has, is, to my mind, pure criminal neglect. Instead, they stifled it. That's the sort of thing that happens when totally unqualified and inexperienced people are given positions of great power, mind.