Hacker News Reader

Comment by thomasz | Hacker News Reader

Unfortunately, we are not allowed to print the world reserve currency like there is no tomorrow, and we do not possess the qualities of the US that make them the natural haven for capital in times of global turbulence.

That being said, the policy of austerity implemented during the Euro crisis was pretty catastrophic and arrested growth prospects for a whole generation.

View on HN

>That being said, the policy of austerity implemented during the Euro crisis was pretty catastrophic and arrested growth prospects for a whole generation.

It was an austerity policy in name only given government debts have only continued to increase since then. There's a demonstrated correlation between high government debt and lower growth.

Not in the US

Nah, that’s demonstratively wrong dogmatism. Obviously it’s not a good idea to take three times your national GDP in debt to build three oversized airports next to each other because your family owns your nations construction business. But letting education and infrastructure collapse and watch a whole generation grow old without any chance meaningful workforce participation and without a chance at having a family is pretty devastating too.

This tendency didn't start at all with the Euro crisis. Remember Thatcher? She put this economic model firmly in place and everybody started to copy it, fiddle with it, without ever questioning its basis anymore. So it's not "a whole generation" but at least "two whole generations" - and it doesn't look like it's gonna stop the trend any time soon, public service keep getting defunded and big companies keep getting tax cuts.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com