Example of why moderate doesn’t work

January 30, 2012 in Uncategorized by iconoclast_555 | 2 comments

At least when up against an extreme.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/opinion/krugman-the-austerity-debacle.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

The corporate rw has a hard-on for a balanced budget. That’s neolib dogma, straight from the Austrian School, and a means to the end of drowning the government in a bathtub.

“Third way” politicos on both sides of the pond are letting the neolib extremists dictate policy by swallowing, without a fight, the “austerity” line. The “other” side frames, the purported progressives accept the bait, make it sound better by trying to spread the bitter pill of austerity around, begin negotiations from a compromised position, and find a lose-lose situation.

If, as is likely, austerity makes things worse, the extremists (that are holding the framing handle) will say “he/they didn’t go far enough with spending cuts”. If, by chance, austerity doesn’t send us into a double-dip, the extremists will say “he followed our suggestions. Of course, if he’d cut MORE we’d be better off”.

Third Way politicos are timeservers. They’ll do anything to get elected, and once elected they’ll do the bare minimum to keep their electorate on their side. No ideology, no plan, no defense of progressive values – just lip service to SOME progressive objectives, to be attained by neoliberal means.

It’s time for people to wake the fuck up.

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  1. iconoclast_555’s avatar

    iconoclast_555 on January 31, 2012 at 11:08 am

    Bump

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    1. Timbuk3’s avatar

      Timbuk3 on January 31, 2012 at 10:59 pm

      Obviously, you bumped this because you’re looking for comments.

      There’s not much to say. I agree?

      I mean, it’s maybe not so straightforward as you describe it. Keynesians don’t believe in deficit spending during GOOD times, for example. Not that we’re in good times, but it’s worth noting to offset the notion that wingnuts have about it, that “liberals” only want to “spend money we don’t have”.

      We “liberals” DO want to “spend money we don’t have” until the economy recovers. But if we ever get things back on track, we WANT the government to spend less than it takes in. To save for the next downturn.

      Austerity is already hurting the British economy, which makes the situation in Europe even scarier. Britain’s not as big as Germany, but it WAS one of the healthier economies in Europe. Austerity at this time makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE. No credible economist thinks so, but unfortunate there are a lot of “credible” loons who pump it, anyway.

      I used to think economics was hard to understand. It’s not. It’s actually simple.

      A government that can print it’s own money should spend during down turns, and save during upturns.

      Spend to stimulate.

      Save because upturns don’t last forever.

      It’s not a “correction”, it’s a “leveling” of “a natural cycle” that keeps people like you and me from getting hurt too bad.

      Which is of absolutely no interest to the wealthy and the corps, whose only goal is increasing profits year after year.

      I wish I had enough money that it worked for me. Like, for example, Mitt “I like to fire people” Romneybot and Ging Rich.

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