Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Paul Krugman: European Green Lanterns
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/26/european-green-lanterns/Sitting in a room listening to EU officials reacting to the European Parliament elections and it seems to me that theyre deep in denial. Barroso just declared that the euro had nothing to do with the crisis, that it was all failed policies at the national level; a few minutes ago he said that Europes real problem is a lack of political will.
This is quite amazing, in a really bad way.
Sorry, but depression-level slumps didnt happen in Europe before the coming of the euro. And we know very well what happened: first the creation of the euro encouraged massive capital flows to southern Europe, then the money dried up and the absence of national currencies meant that the debtor countries had to go through an extremely painful process of deflation. How anyone could deny any role for the currency
And if theres one thing Europe has, its political will. All across the southern tier, governments have dutifully imposed incredibly harsh austerity in the name of being good Europeans. What should they have done that they havent?
I guess the notion is that if the Greeks, or the Portuguese, or the Spaniards really, truly committed their all-powerful wills to reform and adjustment, their economies would boom despite deflation and austerity. The possibility that things are so bad and radicals have been empowered because the policies are fundamentally misguided just doesnt seem to be considered.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
3 replies, 1252 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (9)
ReplyReply to this post
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Paul Krugman: European Green Lanterns (Original Post)
LongTomH
May 2014
OP
Distant Quasar
(142 posts)1. The European center-left deserves plenty of blame for this
Social-democratic mania for centralization + neoliberal market ideology = disaster for ordinary people. It's no wonder that the far right and far left are making inroads.
Uncle Joe
(58,361 posts)2. Kicked and recommended.
Thanks for the thread, LongTomH.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)3. K&R!