"Today there is a grave danger that the still fragile economic recovery will be undercut by austerity economics. A turn by major governments away from the promotion of growth and jobs and to premature focus on deficit reduction could slow growth and increase unemployment – and could push us back into recession.
History suggests that a tenuous recovery is no time to practice austerity. In the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal generated growth and reduced the unemployment rate from 25 percent in 1932 to less than 10 percent in 1937. However, the deficit hawks of that era persuaded President Roosevelt to reverse course prematurely and move toward budget balance.
The result was a severe recession that caused the economy to contract sharply and sent the unemployment rate soaring.
The President and Congress should redouble efforts to create jobs and send aid to the states whose budget crises threaten recovery by forcing them to lay off school teachers, public safety workers, and other essential workers. It also makes sense to invest in public service jobs – and in infrastructure projects for transportation, water, and energy conservation that will make our economy more productive for years to come."
tuesday is a joke / played on those not quite prepared / the same game again
Thursday, September 16, 2010
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I'm not so sure that growth, that holy grail of consumer economics, is such a good thing. It's simply not sustainable, and it tends toward these roller-coaster changes in the economy. I think this recent recession, precipitated by a highly visible failure of the growth mentality, ought to have taught us a lesson. Sustainability is, perhaps obviously, a far more stable platform. Of course, it's not compatible with modern marketing and the "golden arrow" retail mindset. See thestoryofstuff.com for more.
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