Austerity as political fashion trend
Exquisite foolishness from the recent G20 summit in Korea:
The G20’s final communiqué introduced a surprise change of tone from the document produced by G20 finance ministers just six weeks ago — a shift for which Britain’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, was keen to claim credit as he made his debut on the international summit circuit.
The April 23 G20 communiqué supported the idea that governments should continue to support growth with stimulus until the recovery is driven by the private sector. Today’s document, though, backed the sort of immediate fiscal consolidation being planned by Mr Osborne.
From the sounds of things, fiscal austerity is little more than an intellectual fashion trend to which ascendant politicians are eager to give their imprimatur. Wow…what better grounds could there be for pushing millions into relative poverty???
Apparently Tim Geithner, on behalf of the U.S., was a lonely voice of “reason”:
The weekend’s meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers saw heated exchanges between US and European representatives, with division centering on the speed at which government budget deficits should be reduced.
US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner argued the case for fiscal consolidation over the “medium term,” while Europeans, rattled by the region’s ongoing debt crisis, called for faster cutbacks.
URLs:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7144663.ece
News and Views | art June 8, 2010
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