Here is a rundown of "teh librurl coverage":
- Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly:
Whether the GOP wants to admit it or not, the economy is advancing exactly as they want it to. The private sector is being left to its own devices; the public sector is shedding jobs quickly and scrapping investments; and the only permitted topic of conversation is about debt-reduction.
- Ezra Klein of the Washington Post:
Though the trends might be better than they were in early-2009, the labor market is in much worse shape, and it's clear that more action, and perhaps even big action, is desperately needed. I do not, however, expect that to be the actual response to this news.
- Bill Gross of PIMCO over at Bloomberg is soundingly some wild-eyed hippie.
I would just like to echo what Benen has said. This is exactly what the policies advocated by conservatives yields. I am not saying they sit around trying to screw the economy (though it is hard not to speculate how they might be acting if they controlled the White House and one other branch i.e "in control of government"), but the policies the champion have this effect in a recession. They have told us time and time again, that shrinking government, cutting taxes, and deregulation would spur job creation.
Well not to get into a post hoc fallacy mess, but here are two graphs which show jobs creation since the Obama administration began (via Steve Benen).
Democratic control of Congress
Republican control of the House
Again I know, causation and correlation and all that. But is anyone really going to make the argument that we haven't been essentially following the Republican plan over the last 6-8 months? Basically less government spending and leaving the private sector to its own devices?
This is what austerity gets you in the midst of a severe financial contraction. I wait with baited breath to see the bipartisan rush to ameliorate this. Basic macroeconomics spells out clearly what you do in this situation.....
-Cheers
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