Whoops! Turns out debt doesn’t ruin economies.

[summerschild]

9. A spreadsheet error - Really????

FROM Salon article:

“The problem is that debt moralists used the study to justify a political belief, and they will not shed that belief now that the study has been shown to be flawed. The idea that debt is just innately bad, and indicative of a sort of national deficiency of character, will persist. It’s not based on data, it’s based on facile analogies to kitchen table checkbook balancing and “common sense” about how it is always necessary to “live within your means.” We already have plenty of evidence that austerity doesn’t boost economies, and no one cares. No one will care about this.”

I looked up Reinhart and Rogoff. Both were appointed to the IMF during Bush’s first term.

Rogoff gained attention in 2002 when he wrote an open letter to Joseph Stiglitz after Stiglitz criticized the IMF in his book, Globalization and Its Discontents. After reading Rogoff’s open letter to Stiglitz, I seriously doubt the “arithmetic” in the Reinhart/Rogoff report was a simple mistake. Take a minute to read the letter, remembering it was written in 2002. They were just insuring the report said what they wanted it to say - - - and it's been inflicted on the world.

Rogoff’s letter: http://www.imf.org/external/np/vc/2002/070202.htm