Individuals often carry history on their shoulders by virtue of the positions they hold and the actions they take. When these individuals hold views about the economy that are not remotely in accord with the way the system operates yet can influence economic policy by disregarding evidence then things become problematic. It is no surprise that my principle concern when it comes to economics is how we can keep unemployment and underemployment low. That was the reason I became an economist in the late 1970s, when unemployment sky-rocketed in Australia and has been relatively high ever since. So when I read commentary which I know would worsen unemployment (levels or duration) if the opinion was influential I feel the need to contest it. That has been my motivation in economics all my career. A daily contest given that the mainstream of my profession is biased to keeping unemployment and underemployment higher than it otherwise has to be. Today I present a simple reality check for the austerians.

Der Spiegel carried the story (May 6, 2011) – Greece Considers Exit from Euro Zone. I thought that if the story was true then Greek leadership must finally be coming to their senses. The reality is that the EMU bosses have once again stalled the judgement day and provided some soft relief for an economy that continues to deteriorate. Everyone knows what the problem is – the EMU doesn’t work and without a federal fiscal redistribution mechanism it will never be able to deliver prosperity. Every time an asymmetric demand shock hits the Eurozone, the weaker nations will fail. Trying to impose fiscal rules and austerity onto the EMU monetary system just makes matters worse. Greece should definitely leave the Eurozone. Life will be difficult then but the adjustment mechanisms that would then be available to the government (floating exchange rate and currency monopoly) are more people-friendly (capable of increasing jobs and income) than the way they are currently pursuing the problem (internal devaluation and demand contraction). Europe continues to demonstrate it has no answers worth considering.

Restoring Fiscal Sanity in the United States: A Way Forward. Essentially, the article is a non-article but a sign-up page to access a speech of the same title by David M. Walker, former top public accountant in the US (Comptroller General) which apparently makes him qualified to speak about monetary systems. The speech is full of nonsense but it gave me some insights into what seems to be unfolding in the national capital over there in America. While I was at the airport today I heard some very sensational news – Navy SEALs stake out US building! Perhaps I am the first to blog about this development. Twitter universe – where are you?

So I guess it is time to build those very large bon-fires and burn all the mainstream macroeconomics textbooks that have poisoned the minds of millions of students for years. Mankiw, Blanchard, Barro to name a few. Burn them all. I also think it is time to delete all the computer code that supports mainstream economics models. My long-held belief that these actions would be educative and liberating have been ratified by a recent IMF conference that seems to have concluded that “the macroeconomic models that had been relied upon in the past and had informed major aspects of monetary and macro-policy had failed”. So all the supporting literature needs to be deleted. I am now advocating biblioclasm …

As an outsider, I am always perplexed by American attitudes. Some of the great writers have come from the US so their schooling system must have something going for it. Some of the great musicians have come from the US so there is creativity there. I could go on. But then you think back to the 1950s, when a whole nation was whipped up in the great propaganda traditions that would have made the Reich’s Ministry of Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels proud. Except this was America, alleged land of the free, unless you happen to take that seriously and find out that in fact the place is a repressive society bound to torture people and use martial force to suppress minority viewpoints. I refer here, specifically, of-course, to the McCarthy purges. Remember the Nazis hated the communists too. But today I read a speech from a governor of one US state who has identified a continuing red menace that will eat up the freedom of all US citizens and is the work of a sneaky but determined group of left-wing zealots (with Chinese overtones). If it wasn’t so serious it would be comical and all we would have to do is send the men in the white coats out to the governor’s office to take him away for treatment. The problem is that this is the third great US “reds under the bed” scare and like the previous scares this one is damaging millions.

Today the Australian government demonstrated how poor their grasp of macroeconomics is and how badly they are managing our economy. In response to the very destructive floods that have ravaged the most populated states on the east coast (Queensland, NSW and Victoria) and wiped out billions in income-generating assets and businesses, they decided to increase taxes to “pay” for the reconstruction relief. This is at at time when the economy is slowing, inflation is moderating and the banks cannot get enough treasury debt to satisfy their prudential requirements. Further, it is at a time when there are 12.5 per cent of willing labour resources lying idle and long-term unemployment is rising. I noted in yesterday’s blog – Its grim on both sides of the Atlantic – that things are really bleak in the UK (now contracting again courtesy of its government policies) and in the US (about to contract courtesy of its government’s mismanagement). In both cases, the malaise is being caused by a dysfunctional ideology being imposed by policy makers onto very fragile economies. Well it seems that the madness along the coastlines of the Atlantic has crossed the Pacific. The imposition of a flood levy is a nonsensical and destructive policy act.

Today I have had several media requests for interviews about various topics including the flood reconstruction in the eastern states of Australia and their implications for the budget aims of the Federal government (to record a surplus in 2012-13). My position seems to be alone in the debate. In the conservative pro-business publication – Business Spectator article (January 19, 2011) – A flood levy would not break Labor – we read more about the alleged budget dilemma facing the Government as a result of the devastating floods that Australia is currently enduring. To put the article in context, the author was a former advisor to past Labor government ministers – which when you read it tells you how far to the right the political “centre” has gone. While I doubt that the floods alone will undermine economic growth over the next 12 months, I certainly consider that the Australian economy requires further fiscal stimulus to keep growth going and the response to the disaster is a politically acceptable way to inject that stimulus. It is certainly not the time to be trying to raise taxes or cut spending in other areas to “pay for” the reconstruction effort.

The title of today’s blog comes from a speech given on January 12, 2011 by Richard W. Fisher, boss of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas – The Limits of Monetary Policy – which carried the sub-title – Monetary Policy Responsibility Cannot Substitute for Government Irresponsibility. It is a speech littered with ideological assertions parading as sensible public commentary. It will resonate with the deficit terrorists and reinforce the policy agenda that will only make the situation in the US worse not better. The ideas were echoed elsewhere in the world in the last week. Japan is considering hiking tax rates “because they want more private growth and less public net spending”. The (un)truth brigade have thus been out in force in recent days – spreading a litany of lies and falsehoods which only aim to perpetuate their irrational obsession that government economic activity is bad. I only wish they would just speak the truth.

As the days go by we begin to realise the huge scale of the problem that the floods in Northern Australia are presenting our country. Whole communities are being forced to leave their homes and major disruptions to economic activity (in very important regions) are being experienced. The floods are being labelled the worst in Australian history (well the white European occupation of indigenous land history) although that depends on the area – certainly the worst since the early 1950s. The areas that are affected are major sugar, coal, iron-ore and food production regions. So real GDP growth will be reduced and this will exacerbate the already slowing economy. What should be the correct federal government response? Answer: to expand the budget deficit (via discretionary spending increases) to ensure that essential public infrastructure is replaced and private economies are able to function again. What is the current federal government contemplating? Answer: spending cuts. My assessment of this: they have no credibility as fiscal managers.