You would never guess in a million years! Paul Krugman has written another New York Times op-ed entitled "What Greece Means" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/opinion/krugman-what-greece-means.html?ref=opinion), calling on the US federal government to borrow at "historically low interest rates" and spend. Krugman acknowledges between parenthesis that there has been "some better news lately" but "our economy is still deeply depressed," and demands that the US add to its mountain of debt in order to avoid the stagnation and unemployment of Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain.
And just what is the US going to do with this borrowed loot? Presumably, the answer was provided in Krugman's earlier op-ed, "States of Depression" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/opinion/krugman-states-of-depression.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), i.e. lend it to the states. Great idea! Or is it?
Suppose if, after many years of struggling to feed the family, pay off the mortgage and return the loan on the car, the bank called to inform my wife and me that owing to our punctual past repayments, we can now borrow another $100,000 to be used as we see fit. Well, our investments in alternative energy companies never really paid off, but good ol' Uncle Eustace (rhymes with "Useless") P. Gratis has been asking for a few bucks -- well actually a few tens of thousands of dollars -- to keep him afloat, and what better time than now to do this family member a favor? We understand he's got his drinking problem almost under control, he'll surely know how to use the funds wisely, and he's bound to repay us sometime down the road . . . .
Not.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thanks for speaking up about this article. How can anyone think that more borrowing is the answer? If you aren't looking any further than Greece then maybe, but Portugal, Spain, Italy and France will prove beyond a doubt that too much borrowing is destructive in the end, and the US will learn shortly thereafter.
ReplyDelete