Why the Argument for Austerity Took a Big Hit Yesterday
In the years following the financial crisis, America has been obsessed with debt. Hurting from the crisis, consumers and businesses have been busy paying off debt, while the federal government has ramped up its borrowing through a combination of stimulus spending and lower tax revenue. And of course all this new government debt — which has reached 73% of GDP and is expected to remain roughly at that level for the next decade — has many policy makers and citizens deeply concerned, to say the least. But exactly how concerned we ought to be over that debt level — and how radically we need to act to reduce it — remains hotly debated. Governments obviously need to be able to borrow, and nearly every government does so. But experts have reached no clear consensus over how much (relative to the size of its economy) a nation can safely borrow. That is, no consensus had begun to emerge until the appearance in 2010 of a paper, by economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, called “Growth ...
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IMF Leaves Egypt After Hearing From Opposition
(CAIRO) — A team from the International Monetary Fund left Egypt without getting broad backing from the opposition for a government economic plan aimed at getting a key $4.8 billion loan, political blocs said Tuesday. Egypt’s main factions say they agree in principle on the need for the loan, seen as a lifeline for the country’s battered economy, but there are concerns over unrest if painful austerity measures linked to it are not backed by political consensus. The IMF said in a statement that its delegation met with a range of political figures and Cabinet officials during the nearly two week-long visit that ended late Monday. In previous, shorter trips, the IMF has only focused on meeting with government officials. The country’s political polarization has further delayed reaching agreement around the deal. Finance Minister El-Morsi Hegazi, who will meet with officials in Washington D.C. this weekend for annual IMF and World Bank meetings, said the government’s meetings with the ...
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Outside the Box: The unhelpful debate over austerity vs. stimulus
The austerity versus stimulus debate has grown stale, says Barry Wood. It’s simplistic to argue that the U.S. is pursuing expansion while Europe goes in the opposite direction, foolishly choosing austerity over growth.
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Greek finance minister says Greece clinches deal with troika on review
????? - Greece has reached a deal with its international lenders on a review of the country's austerity program, finance minister Yiannis Stournaras said on Monday.
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ΑΘΗΝΑ
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Reuters
Anti-euro party a wildcard in German elections
BERLIN -- It's a spectacle that Germans are getting tired of: southern European protesters burning their flags and waving placards comparing Chancellor Angela Merkel to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, all in reaction to Berlin's insistence on reforms and austerity in return for bailout funds....
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