In Athens, Austerity’s Ugliness

[steve2470]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/opinion/kristof-in-athens-austeritys-ugliness.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

Europe declared war on Keynes, and Keynes is winning.

In the United States, Republicans lambaste President Obama’s stimulus package as a failure and insist on bone-crunching budget-cutting. If you want to know how well that works, come visit Europe — especially Greece.

Yes, Greece needed a wake-up whack and economic reform, but Republican-style austerity knocked the patient unconscious. Contrast the still-shrinking economies of Europe with the stirrings of recovery in the United States, and you feel lucky to be an American and a beneficiary of President Obama’s stimulus.

It’s stunning here in Athens to see many traffic lights not working, to see beggars pawing through garbage for food, to see blackened ruins of shops burned in rioting. I was even greeted by a homeless man who spoke impeccable British-accented English.

[xchrom]

1. There was no keynesian stimulus here.

There were - pretenses to it.

That the 'main street' bail out - stimulus - what ever you want to call it - is working - 1st) is up for debate - 2nd) shouldn't be called Keynes.

Is austerity working? No. But we're not done with it here or in Europe.

[dipsydoodle]

2. The reason the traffic lights are not working

is because they were maliciously broken during the riots and they can't afford to replace them especially in the knowledge they'll get broken again.

They've, unsuccessfully, been using traffic wardens instead in an effort to keep traffic moving.

[girl gone mad]

3. Don't get too comfortable.

The neoliberals are firmly in control of economic policy in the U.S. as well as Europe. Austerity will come to America. Ireland, Spain and Greece are just guinea pigs. Washington is owned and the oligarchs want to see suffering here.

Don't mistake the horrendous bank bailouts and the minor stimulus program full of misguided tax cuts and crony pork-barrel spending for genuine Keynesian policy. Aside from the payroll tax cut, we didn't get anything Keynesian, certainly nothing on the order of the deficit spending required, and now we're just about back to where we were in 2007. Except our banks are more fragile and our middle class is even poorer.