May 23, 2011
Most people would consider double-digit unemployment a bad thing, but most people don’t run USA Today. In an article on President Obama’s trip to Europe, USA Today talks about the economic disaster that has befallen Ireland as a result of its budget cutting and tells readers:
“Financial experts and credit-ratings agencies say the mess is a warning for Obama and Washington lawmakers: Get your fiscal house in order or risk the same fate.”
Of course getting its fiscal house in order is what led to the double-digit unemployment in Ireland. Ireland actually had low debt and deficits prior to the collapse of its housing bubble.
By the way, the “credit-ratings agencies” referred to in this piece are best known as the people who rated hundreds of billions of dollars of subprime mortgage-backed securities as investment grade. The “financial experts” were people who could not see the largest asset bubble in the history of the world.
There is no evidence that USA Today spoke with anyone for this article who recognized the dangers facing the world economy before its collapse in 2008. Readers should keep that in mind in assessing the argument it presents.
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