“Terrible Year Baked In:” Govt. Stimulus Needed, But Not This Bill, Wolf Says
By Aaron Task 11 February 2009
Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator for The Financial Times, is a believer in the power of government spending to revive the economy, especially now when the private sector is in major retreat.
But believing in fiscal stimulus is much different than supporting the bill currently being discussed in Congress, which Wolf believes is “too small, too wasteful and too ill-focused.”
Similarly, Wolf is discouraged by the expected path of the next bank bailout plan; that’s critical because “there’s no sustainable recovery without a sound financial system” whether the stimulus package is well designed or not, he says.
As detailed in part one of our interview, the commentator, author and economics professor has a fairly dire view of the state of the global economy. Given that, he says the risk of going forward with such bad polices are profound, including:
• A continuation of a deep recession (if not worse) • More debt defaults by corporations and sovereign nations worldwide. • “Horrendous” unemployment in the U.S. • Ultimate loss of confidence in policymakers, leading to “panic” in financial markets.
Still, Wolf did write a book entitled Fixing Global Finance and he offers “six principles” for stemming the current downturn in which he notes the one silver lining to the economic mess we find ourselves in, as detailed toward the end of the accompanying video.
1 comment:
“Terrible Year Baked In:” Govt. Stimulus Needed, But Not This Bill, Wolf Says
By Aaron Task
11 February 2009
Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator for The Financial Times, is a believer in the power of government spending to revive the economy, especially now when the private sector is in major retreat.
But believing in fiscal stimulus is much different than supporting the bill currently being discussed in Congress, which Wolf believes is “too small, too wasteful and too ill-focused.”
Similarly, Wolf is discouraged by the expected path of the next bank bailout plan; that’s critical because “there’s no sustainable recovery without a sound financial system” whether the stimulus package is well designed or not, he says.
As detailed in part one of our interview, the commentator, author and economics professor has a fairly dire view of the state of the global economy. Given that, he says the risk of going forward with such bad polices are profound, including:
• A continuation of a deep recession (if not worse)
• More debt defaults by corporations and sovereign nations worldwide.
• “Horrendous” unemployment in the U.S.
• Ultimate loss of confidence in policymakers, leading to “panic” in financial markets.
Still, Wolf did write a book entitled Fixing Global Finance and he offers “six principles” for stemming the current downturn in which he notes the one silver lining to the economic mess we find ourselves in, as detailed toward the end of the accompanying video.
Post a Comment