Austerity lovers of the world take note: Cutting government spending hurts the economy and it’s not just the Paul Krugmans of the world that say so.
The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, has some data out indicating that cutting government spending may be off-setting private sector growth. That’s notable, especially when coming from an organization with the motto “Freedom. Opportunity. Enterprise.”
Source here.
Sorry about the legend covering up the years, you’ll just have to count forwards or backwards from what is shown. But, the take away is this. Clearly the drastic cuts in our spending is harming the economy in the imaginary would of many people. I haven’t looked for what the AEI was trying to say, but it’s probably warning about the looming cuts to come if congress doesn’t act. Which, most of us agree, will be devastating if allowed to go through. Thanks for insisting on these you political twits. There isn’t now nor has there been any austerity.
suyts space 
Right. Was it last summer when the austerity battle raged, & the outcome was: “We reached an agreement on how to reduce our debt so we could raise the debt-limit.”
You know, I’m really over-extended on my credit cards. This could really become a problem. I better saving money and try to pay these things off. But, first, let me max out a few more!!
Exactly, I like the part where we’re pretending that we’ve already made some cuts in our spending.
It’s fantasy. Many people live in it, many governments operate in it.
In my reality, I actually just paid off the last of my credit cards, and strive from here on out to only use the ‘pay-in-full each month’ versions…
I hear you, brother. After November, I’ll have my truck paid off. I’ll have nothing but the monthly bills which come with living…. phone, internet, rent….
Good for you. How do governments not see that fiscal responsiblity ( with our money, btw) is good for us?
They don’t like it because it temporarily slows the economy. They’re still living in that fantasy that spending beyond your means can be done in perpetuity. Like the housing market pre-crash. They simply expected the prices to forever increase several fold beyond the real value of the structure. It’s where even some so called free-market believers get tripped up. They don’t understand the difference between market value and intrinsict value. And it kicks our a$$ every time.
Lets see some REAL Austerity.
Start by cutting the EPA, DOE, Department of Education. Then trim the USDA, FDA and get rid of HACCP, a real paper/time waster (see: http://agpolicy.org/weekcol/467.html)
Then hit the states and counties and cities and do the same getting rid of most permitting and licensing codes.
If you really want to see the US economy take off get us out of WTO and NAFTA and put in import duties that level the playing field. An American made widget should cost the same as a Chinese or Mexican widget that was the original reason for import duties to protect domestic business. More over import duties use to fund most of the US government.
Now we have a horrible trade imbalance and the jobs that are available are taken by H1B Work Visa foreign workers while qualified Americans are collecting unemployment and food stamps. Yes I know what I am talking about because I have seen a job description for MY JOB rewritten to exclude me.
H1B’s we’ve imported over 1 million over the last decade or so to directly compete with me and keep wages lower. I don’t mind people coming to improve their lot in life, be we should not be importing workers.
Just as we have separation of church & state, separation of economy & state should have been written into our Constitution.
While I agree with you…I don’t think you can find separation of church and state in the Constitution.
Well, not the specific phrase, but the First Amendment’s ‘”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ….”
has been defined as that separation of church and state…
leftinbrooklyn says:
July 30, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Well, not the specific phrase, but the First Amendment’s ‘”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ….”
has been defined as that separation of church and state…
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Yeppers!
Separation of church and state was actually from Mr Jefferson’s letters
a wise, wise man….
Geez, we need him back….
Yes, we could use a few Mr Jeffersons
‘They don’t like it because it temporarily slows the economy.’
Sure, no one wants a recession on their watch, but ‘slowing the car down’ in order to change direction and avert driving off a cliff, might turn out to be the wise choice in the long run. Our elected ‘adults’ should be able to comprehend that…
Most of them are as empty headed as they are empty suited.
Thomas E Woods: Why you have never heard of the Great Depression of 1910
acckk!!! 49 minutes!! I’ll have to watch it tomorrow…..
Sorry, 1921, not 1910
Warren Harding, 1921, Prez, Depression of 2921: Harding refused to intervene, instead
promoted deflation, contrary to modern theories; reduced taxes and spending drastically –
top tax rate down from 75% to 25%; WARNED OF HIGH WAGES.
GDP collapsed by 20% – but turnaround kicked in WITHIN 6 MONTHS – so you never hear
of that depression in the history lessons.
And he nearly halved the federal budget as well. Harding destroys Keynes.
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