business

Finance officials facing a chronically weak global economy

5 Comments
By PAUL WISEMAN

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Obstfeld issued an urgent warning for countries to make a pre-emptive effort to jump-start their economies through continued low rates, government spending that encourages growth and reforms that promote economic efficiency.

1 A "pre-emptive effort" "through continued low rates"? I'm not sure how continuing to do more of what hasn't worked so far is supposed to be pre-emptive. 2 "Government spending that encourages growth"? We have negative interest rates, how about negative government spending for a change? Rather than government blowing people's money away, let people keep their money so they can spend and invest it as they see fit and we might see some growth. 3 "reforms that promote economic efficiency"... this one I totally agree with, but politicians and central bankers seem to think that the real economy doesn't matter and it all comes down to what they do in #1 and #2. This #3 never sees the light of day.
2 ( +2 / -0 )

Wages haven’t risen significantly in advanced economies even though unemployment has fallen. Inflation has remained dangerously subpar despite ultra-low borrowing rates engineered by major central banks. And those historically low loan rates have yet to encourage businesses to step up investment meaningfully.

Did everybody catch what this sneaky article tried to do? Everybody wants wages to go up. Everybody wants businesses to take advantage of low interest rates to invest in their futures. But sandwiched in the middle is a biased sentence which implies that inflation can somehow be "dangerously subpar", and which praises central banks for engineering this situation.

If that's not straight out of the indebted-government-looking-to-devalue-its-debt-at-public-expense propaganda wing, I don't know what is. The ideal inflation rate for the diligent, hard-working, money-saving citizen is zero, and mild deflation is far preferable to any inflation at all.

And this reporter seems to think that he could just slip it in between two innocuous statements just as many article writers have been doing ever since Abe got elected, and to some extent ever since fiat money became the norm. Repeat something long enough and loud enough, and the public will believe it, right?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@ fxgai

" how about negative government spending for a change? Rather than government blowing people's money away"

I second that!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

“Growth has been too slow for too long,” Maurice Obstfeld, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, warned on >>the eve of the spring meetings of the IMF, the World Bank and the Group of 20 major economies Thursday through >>Saturday.

You worry for too slow growth, most of people worry if they will have something to eat and how simply survive in the future, sorry I have no sympathy for you, I keep my compassion for somebody else.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Economic growth is precisely why people have food to eat, and much much more.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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