Daily Archives: October 3, 2014

EU Austerity as Frat House Hazing

By William K. Black

The European Union (EU) is stagnating because of austerity.  Austerity in response to the Great Recession has already, gratuitously, forced the eurozone into recession and roughly one-third of its population live in nations with Great Depression levels of unemployment.  Austerity has now thrown Italy into its third recession in six years and may well do so in France.  One might think that even the troika would respond to this track record of failure and anguish by deciding to stop smashing the eurozone’s economy with the hammer of austerity.

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NEP’s Pavlina Tcherneva appears on NPR

Pavlina appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition with Scott Horsley this morning, Oct 3. Topic of discussion was economic disconnect. You can listen here.

The New York Times Admits that “Many Economists” Criticize EU Austerity

By William K. Black

Under the principle that one should bestow a special welcome on the tentative steps that the prodigal daughter takes to return to economic reality I write to praise Liz Alderman’s column entitled “France Produces a “No Austerity’ Budget, Defying E.U. Rules.”  The column contains a sentence that represents a breakthrough in the New York Times’ horrific (non) coverage of Eurozone austerity, its abject failure, its self-destructive nature, and its victims.

“But many economists believe that crimping spending during a downturn has impeded economic growth, which in turn has made it harder for those countries to reduce their deficits and debts.”

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