Austerity v. Growth Battle Claims Latest Casualty in the Netherlands
The primary competitors for global economic remedies has been whittled down to two diametrically opposed finalist; Austerity v. Stimulus. Severe and immediate austerity measures may have been only the soup du jour since the French are clearly looking for another selection on the menu.
All Europeans will either follow the French's rebuffing of their leadership's "sacrifice the people for profit" schemes en masse or reject the concept of global austerity one nation state at a time. Global austerity measures are uniting most Europeans under the same banner of " we want alternative solutions to those currently on the table."
In France, Francois Hollande a center left socialist is refusing to accept austerity (only) for the very same reason the Far Right in the Netherlands just collapsed the Dutch government over the very same issue; disagreement on how to bring its projected 4.6 percent 2012 budget deficit below the 3 percent European limit. Austerity wasn't the answer they wanted to hear.
“We are getting more and more reform fatigue,” according to Jörg Krämer, chief economist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. “It is a problematic phase in the sovereign debt crisis.” With unemployment at record levels in most of Europe, more are feeling if they don't resist "crippling reforms" solely at their expense, several generations of the population will be sacrificed, left behind and ultimately forgotten.
The two schools of thought have very distinct audiences, generally divided along income and class. Youth, trade unions and those relying on wages from daily employment, as well as small business operators and management level professionals tend to reject the austerity proposals being implemented against their collective will and benefit.
The ultra wealthy and multi national corporations positioned themselves to have austerity measures implemented so as to mitigate their taxable liabilities as close to zero as possible. Result: Growth will shrink, quality of life will decline and opportunities will dwindle for the global middle class. On the other hand, big business and those who control them will grow profits, depress global wages, avoid taxation and eliminate cumbersome regulations. Tax increases on top global earners to support any stimulus spending is not an option for to be considered or tolerated.
Italy Greece and the UK have sent Silvio Berlusconi, George Papandreou and Gordon Brown respectively packing as their citizens are hoping voting and protesting for alternatives to the old guard's approach in resuscitating their nation's economies. If the collective peoples of Europe's declining nations refuse to accept what's being proposed and demanded of them, a clash of the classes is inevitable.
Respected American economist Jeffery Sachs and Paul Krugman suggested at the hight of the US financial collapse, the contentiously agreed upon stimulus package was too anemic to be effective over the long term. They've been proven correct.
The chicken shit $780 billion was just enough to keep the ceiling from caving in and the lights on. With a little luck and skillful management of a corrupt and obstructionist Congress, the American President was able to save it's auto industry while slowing a hemorrhaging of jobs.
Without shared sacrifice being the centerpiece of a complete reconfiguration of the global economy, really bad trouble could lie ahead.
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