European leaders - "Water might be wet"
Bowing to mounting evidence that austerity alone cannot solve the debt crisis, European leaders are expected to conclude this week that what the debt-laden, sclerotic countries of the Continent need are a dose of economic growth.
A draft of the European Union summit meeting communiqué calls for ‘‘growth-friendly consolidation and job-friendly growth,’’ an indication that European leaders have come to realize that austerity measures, like those being put in countries like Greece and Italy, risk stoking a recession and plunging fragile economies into a downward spiral.Really?
Really?
Earth to Captain Obvious - This has been somewhat remarkably and ridiculously obvious from Day 1 (or, if you're Paul Krugman, from the beginning of the Grand Experiment). As I've mentioned elsewhere, if you don't have control over your own currency (hello EU countries), then there is absolutely no way that the public sector and the private sector can de-leverage at the same time, if you are not growing!
Read that again. Think about it. Its blindingly obvious to me, to you, and to everyone, and it seems, finally to the EU leaders.
A welcome dose of reality...
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