Johnson has made some useful contributions to different debates, but this comment from him is just bullshit. The question on the table was what short-term proposal was tenable. His was not, whatever its merits in principle and in the longer run. Let's not forget SJ comes from the benevolent IMF; he leads off with the deficit comment, and only later acknowledges that some stimulus now would be worthwhile.
In general, not aimed at LP, the left opposition to BHO getting soft on deficit reduction for the sake of dinging the White House is very bad long-term politics. On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 12:18 PM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > From last night's MSNBC show > > Joining us now is Simon Johnson. He`s the former chief economist > for the International Monetary Fund. He`s now a professor of > economics at MIT, as well as a contributing business editor at > "The Huffington Post." In other words, he`s way, way > over-qualified for a discussion that started with a really bad > long cheese metaphor. > > Professor Johnson, thank you very much for joining us tonight. > > SIMON JOHNSON, MIT ECONOMICS PROFESSOR: Nice to be with you. > > MADDOW: Am I right that from what we know about this deal that > none of it is offset, this is just $900 billion added to the debt? > > JOHNSON: Absolutely. As far as we know, it goes straight into the > debt. It expands the deficit. It`s completely irresponsible. > > >
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