Interesting Blog on the Need to Restore Fiscal Responsibility in the US

[atseacliff]

An interesting piece on the need to address fiscal deficits in the US.

http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2012/01/restoring-fiscal-sanity-to-the-us/

[harnett]

And a riposte at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/10/economic-illiteracy-of-economists

I t would be good to see where Fitz lies on this one!

[petagny]

Harnett,

Thanks for this link. So, it's all down to the excessive cost of healthcare - double the developed country average!

The article also shows how it's important to be realistic about the deficit/debt problem. The USA is borrowing at negative real interest rates short term and zero long term. The UK government is borrowing at negative real interest rates short and long term! Are these signs of fiscal crises? No, they are signs of economic crises!

I recently read an article that said that if the US actually enacted all the legislation on the statute book and allowed all temporary measures to lapse, the (apparent) deficit problem would disappear (although the results in terms of services and transfers would not be pretty). Unfortunately, I can't find the reference again!

[John Short]

The Comments on the Guardian article are quite amusing and says a lot about a general  understanding of what economics is about if one take the comments-makers as a sample of the population. Of course, the Guardian readership would be in the top x% of the population in terms of ..... (what) so it might be a biased sample?  Any suggestions?