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Friday, July 23, 2010

Martin Wolf answers austerians

Martin Wolf has the best answer to 'austerians' advocating immediate tightening of fiscal policy in response to burgeoning deficits and debts across much of developed world and fears of bond-vigilantes, so as to restore "market confidence" in the country's commitment to maintain fiscal discipline over the long-run,

"Let us translate this proposal into ordinary language: 'If you are unwilling to starve yourself when desperately ill, nobody will believe you would adopt a sensible diet when well.' But might it not make sense to get better first?"

1 comment:

The Arthurian said...

Hello, Gulzar. I think, if you picked any paragraph at random from Martin Wolf, it would be exceptionally good.

This one is surely good. Plus I agree with it, which makes it even better. But if I was taking the other side, I would have to say: It is not that no one believes we'll adopt a sensible diet when healthy. It is that, given 40 years to do it, we did not.

There is a conflict between these views that is not easily resolved.

Art