NP - Toryism (Austerity) Isn't Working.

[David Morris]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/26/the-new-voodoo/

Every time I think we might be making progress against the prejudices
and myths that pass for judicious thinking these days, something like
this editorial in the FT comes along to renew my despair.

The editorial is a response to the latest bad UK economic news, which
it says offers no reason at all to reconsider austerity policies.
Here’s the substantive argument, in full:


Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition, predictably used the
figures to attack the coalition for “cutting too far, too fast”. But
this is unconvincing. There is no guarantee that under a more
expansionary fiscal policy the British economy would be doing
significantly better. And set against this is the risk that the UK’s
low borrowing cost might rise.

This is really extraordinary, if you think about it for a minute.

It’s true that there is “no guarantee” that Britain would be going
better with less austerity; nothing is life is guaranteed. Hey, my cup
of coffee might suddenly turn into a block of ice — thermodynamics is
just statistical, you know. But there is now overwhelming evidence
(pdf) that contractionary fiscal policy is contractionary; not least
from the results of austerity in Europe:

[see chart]

Somehow, though, the FT feels able to reject this evidence based on .. what?

Then there’s the assertion that bond yields might rise. Well, sure,
and there might be a flu outbreak or whatever. But nothing in recent
experience suggests that countries with their own currencies are at
risk from an attack by bond vigilantes — Japan’s 10-year rate, after
more than a decade of warnings that the bond crisis was coming any day
now, is 0.91 percent.

Furthermore, eminently respectable economists now argue persuasively
that austerity in a deeply depressed economy may well be
self-defeating, so that backing off such austerity should encourage,
not worry, bond investors.

So the FT’s argument boils down to the assertion that Britain must
stay the course lest it be forsaken by the confidence fairy and
attacked by misguided invisible bond vigilantes.

And whoever wrote that imagines himself to be sensible and judicious.