Published in the New York Times by Niel MacFarquhar:
UNITED NATIONS — The global economy faces a decade-long
stagnation because governments are pursuing deficit cuts
and other austerity measures rather than providing the
needed stimulus packages, said a United Nations economic
report released Tuesday.Instead of new regulation of the financial system to
address the problems that helped bring on the recession in
2007-8, governments in the United States and Europe are
trying to woo the very speculators who helped cause the
problem, said the report by the Geneva-based United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which is
known by its acronym, Unctad.“Those who support fiscal tightening argue that it is
indispensable for restoring the confidence of financial
markets, which is perceived as key to economic recovery,”
the report said.“This is despite the almost universal recognition that the
crisis was the result of financial market failure in the
first place.”
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