In a Counterpunch article on June 20th, Dean Baker seems to recommend austerity as the long term solution to the recession:
> The Recession Politicians Don't Want to Talk About > The Real Story of the Housing Crash > by DEAN BAKER > The economy is certain to occupy center stage in the presidential race this > fall. Unfortunately neither Governor Romney nor President Obama are likely to > give us an accurate account of the economic problems we are now facing. < snip > After describing a huge drop in demand as the result of the collapse of the housing bubble, Baker says that the government is the only remaining source of demand to fill the gap. But then he turns to austerity for the longer term: > Over a longer term we can expect that net exports will fill the demand gap. > If we bring our huge trade deficit close to balance by selling more abroad > and importing less it will provide a substantial boost to demand. However > this will require that the dollar fall in value relative to the currencies of > our trading partners, making U.S. products more competitive. That is a > process that will take time. With many of trading partners also in severe > slumps, we cannot expect any major improvement in our trade balance in the > immediate future. What is that but austerity? Gene _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
