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