Tag Archives: Rehn

The Troika and the New York Times Bury the Issues, not just the Lead

By William K. Black

On February 6, 2014, Mario Draghi, the head of the ECB said a series of contradictory things each of which indicated a failure to understand economics – and the BBC article about his policies failed to point out or analyze this failure.  Draghi’s primary message, in response to news that “Eurozone inflation slowed to 0.7% in January from 0.8% in December” was:

“We have to dispense with this idea of deflation. The question is – is there deflation? The answer is no.

We have to treat the recovery with extreme caution. It is very fragile. It is starting from very low levels but it is proceeding.”

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“Nobody in Europe” sees a “contradiction” between austerity and growth

By William K. Black

The two most revealing sentences about the gratuitous Eurozone disaster – the creation of the deepening über-Depression – was reported today.  The context (rich in irony as I will explain) is that U.S. Treasury Secretary Lew spent his Spring Break in Europe meeting with his counterparts.  The Wall Street Journal’s article’s title explains Lew’s mission and its failure: “U.S. Anti-Austerity Push Gets Cool Reception in Europe.”  Here are the sentences that capture so well why Germany’s destructive economic policies caused the über-Depression:  “Nobody in Europe sees this contradiction between fiscal policy consolidation and growth,” said Mr. Schäuble. “We have a growth-friendly process of consolidation.” Continue reading