(From the vaults, this one on the backdrop of the looming German general election, and the return of far-right politics to the scene, which may bring about more austerity policies, especially where the EU periphery is concerned, which may reignite the Greek crisis and send Europe spinning down another long tunnel . . .)
An interesting interview with an interesting point of view, citing Germany’s governing Conservatives as the belligerents, not Germans on the whole, which is what it ultimately boils down to: a German government led by a party ideologically fixed on fiscal austerity, trying to impose its idée fixe on others, while desperately clinging to power in a stagnant economy, in the middle of a continental crisis when leadership, not brinksmanship, is needed.
The policy of austerity has reached its expiration date. It needs to be modified or replaced with something that works, fast, otherwise the European project will crack. The continent can’t deal with recessionary economics any longer, any more than it can deal with wanton spending. A balance must be struck. An alternative approach is overdue.
And if the German right wing doesn’t want to deal with the likes of SYRIZA anymore (a sentiment shared by many people, including yours truly), if they are desperate to disempower similar neo-Marxist offshoots in Spain, Portugal and Italy, then they better stop dispensing mindless, politicized austerity where it doesn’t work. They better heed the IMF analyses (the ones everyone, including the IMF, has been ignoring), write off some of the debt, and restructure the rest in a way that makes it sustainable.
Vorsicht! All eyes on the German Christian Democrats currently in power in Germany, who are as intransigent as those they lecture.
From your ever-watchful Spin Doctor,
Eyes open, mind sharp.
For Pickety’s interview on German debt, and the German administration’s high-handed and self-undermining lecture politics, click here