NP - Structural w/ Austerity or Demand-Lack w/ Stimulus?

[David Morris]

Krug:

*So what’s with the obsessive push to declare our problems “structural”?
And, yes, I mean obsessive. Economists have been debating this issue for
several years, and the structuralistas won’t take no for an answer, no
matter how much contrary evidence is presented.

The answer, I’d suggest, lies in the way claims that our problems are deep
and structural offer an excuse for not acting, for doing nothing to
alleviate the plight of the unemployed.

Of course, structuralistas say they are not making excuses. They say that
their real point is that we should focus not on quick fixes but on the long
run — although it’s usually far from clear what, exactly, the long-run
policy is supposed to be, other than the fact that it involves inflicting
pain on workers and the poor.*
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