Krugman : dépression par lassitude

Krugman : dépression par lassitude

On sent tout de même que Paul Krugman, Prix Nobel d’économie, se trouve au bout de sa patience et de sa volonté d'explication circonstanciée. Il ne fait même plus de distinguo, entre la crise européenne et la crise à Washington, – tous dans le même sac. (Bloc BAO, sans nul doute.)

Certes, il nous donne quelques explications, mais les extraits que nous avons choisis sont là surtout pour nous montrer son humeur, désenchanté et lasse, dépressive par conséquent, comme la situation de BAO elle-même, et dépressive par une intense lassitude de les voir poursuivre leur marche empressée vers le gouffre. Peut-être commence-t-il à se douter, Krugman, qu’il n’y a de toutes les façons rien d’autres à faire. Le Système en cours d’effondrement règne. (Sur CommonDreams.org le 23 juillet 2011, repris du New York Times le 22 juillet 2011.)

«These are interesting times — and I mean that in the worst way. Right now we’re looking at not one but two looming crises, either of which could produce a global disaster. In the United States, right-wing fanatics in Congress may block a necessary rise in the debt ceiling, potentially wreaking havoc in world financial markets. Meanwhile, if the plan just agreed to by European heads of state fails to calm markets, we could see falling dominoes all across southern Europe — which would also wreak havoc in world financial markets.

»We can only hope that the politicians huddled in Washington and Brussels succeed in averting these threats. But here’s the thing: Even if we manage to avoid immediate catastrophe, the deals being struck on both sides of the Atlantic are almost guaranteed to make the broader economic slump worse.

»In fact, policy makers seem determined to perpetuate what I’ve taken to calling the Lesser Depression, the prolonged era of high unemployment that began with the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and continues to this day, more than two years after the recession supposedly ended… […]

»For those who know their 1930s history, this is all too familiar. If either of the current debt negotiations fails, we could be about to replay 1931, the global banking collapse that made the Great Depression great. But, if the negotiations succeed, we will be set to replay the great mistake of 1937: the premature turn to fiscal contraction that derailed economic recovery and ensured that the Depression would last until World War II finally provided the boost the economy needed.

»Did I mention that the European Central Bank — although not, thankfully, the Federal Reserve — seems determined to make things even worse by raising interest rates?

»There’s an old quotation, attributed to various people, that always comes to mind when I look at public policy: “You do not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed.” Now that lack of wisdom is on full display, as policy elites on both sides of the Atlantic bungle the response to economic trauma, ignoring all the lessons of history. And the Lesser Depression goes on.»

dedefensa.org