“Is it right for policymakers and newspapers to whitewash the social and economic damage done from excessive austerity”? asks Dr Alf.

The answer to this question is of course a resounding no, but the problem is that whitewashing problems away and claiming successes for policies which have failed or are failing are the stock in trade of politicians everywhere.

Not only that the process is as old as time itself and certainly goes back to Roman times.

Worse than that, it is the policy all over the world and not just a uniquely European phenomenon.
Like leopards who do not change their spots politicians, the elite plutocracy and their fellow travelers are all expert and consummate liars which means that you have to look at alternative sources of information from many sources including the people who see some of the reports on what is really going on.

In addition to that, you have to compare what the politicians say on Monday with what they say or do in a week’s time, a month’s time and several years from now.

Then you need to see how circumstances have actually changed and what the newspapers were saying over the same period.

This is still not enough, because you then need to repeat the exercise with broadcasters, experts and scientists and compare all these results and observations with the hard evidence on the ground.

When someone says that conditions in America or Europe in an area of concern are X and that they mirror conditions in the UK in the same area of concern it is easy to simply take that expert on trust.

You should not take the easy option but should check carefully ,following the wisdom of the old Russian proverb “Trust but verify“.

Europe needed, according to David Cameron a “Big Bazooka” estimated by a number of economists to be 6 trillion Euros in order to get back on track following the banking collapse.

Less than 1.6 trillion Euros was found for this purpose and Europe, apart from Germany is not exporting enough and 98% of its citizens are worse off whilst 2% are very much better off and observably so.

Austerity on its own will not solve the problem and neither will just printing money.

The politicians know that and so do the newspapers but what we have is a bogus debate about 2 incomplete alternatives very much akin to the late Henry Ford who said you could have one of his cars in any color you liked as long as it was black.

I fear that whilst the sun shines brightly in the place where Dr Alf resides, the light of truth emanating from the mouths of politicians and many newspapers is but a mirage unlikely to change in our lifetimes barring Divine intervention.

John Gelmini

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