Europe Simulator (Photo credit: wigu)

This is an excellent MUST READ article from Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning, liberal, economist, writing in his Op-Ed blog in the NYT. Check it out!

via Against Stupidity, The IMF Itself Contends In Vain – NYTimes.com.

As I read this article, a number of thoughts went through my mind. Firstly, I was saddened that President Obama did not have the strength to overrule the Republicans who were blocking using public finance to get Americans back to work.

Then my mind, raced to consider the same argument for both the UK and within the Eurozone in Europe.

In the case of the UK, David Cameron’s government does not face the same constraints that President Obama’s does in the US. The IMF recently proposed that the UK borrow an additional £10 billon this year and invest in quality infrastructure projects. This IMF proposal was quickly rejected by UK Chancellor George Osborne. However, Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls has, this week, shrewdly adopted the proposal as a keystone to the Labour Party’s recovery program.

Moving to Continental Europe, the same argument is even more pressing. Additional public finance invested in quality infrastructure projects would kick-start economic growth in Southern Europe. Sadly, the troika of the IMF, the EC, and the IMF continue to squabble and fire-fight, going from crisis to crisis. Of course, the just like the Tea Party is blocking financing growth in the US, their soul-mates in Germany are doing the same in Europe.

Any thoughts?

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