Austerity Is Not a Solution: Why the Deficit Hawks Are Wrong

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http://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/working_papers/working_papers_201-250/WP235.pdf


You can read this report....

"Roughly 18 months after these strong anti-recession measures were enacted, a new wave of opposition to large-scale fiscal deficits has emerged. Deficit hawks have gained strong momentum in the U.S. as well as Europe. They have taken control of economic policy in Britain and Greece, and are gaining ascendency elsewhere. The new Conservative-led coalition government in Britain wasted almost no time to begin implementing its plan to cut government spending in almost all areas by 25 percent over five years, along with a two-year wage freeze for most public-sector workers. In Greece, the Socialist government has made even bigger cuts than required by the International Monetary Fund-managed program, reducing government spending this year by 10 percent. The main justification for such measures is that—in the spirit of the Margaret Thatcher’s famous dictum of the late 1970s—‘there is no alternative.’ That is, deficit hawks argue that self-imposed austerity measures, starting immediately, are the only serious policy choice now available. Perhaps big deficit-financed fiscal expansions made sense 18 months ago, but no longer. Page. 3



You can listen to this also at :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgGKkc1oV4Y:

This is good also.... Shows how to save teachers jobs via a 5 % tax of the rich and raise 900 million... The impact on the richest would mean going from: 440 thousand dollars to 430 thousand dollars.. It has very little impact on them and teachers and janitors get to keep their jobs.... Tax the rich and save a job....

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1. A new Austerity move: Make most minimum wage pay income taxes

With more cuts still to be announced, Venizelos said the country’s tax threshold would be lowered from €12,000 to €8,000 ($27,000 to $11,335) — meaning most Greeks on a minimum wage of €739 ($1,050) per month would have to start paying income tax.

The new measures promoted Greece’s largest union, the GSEE, to call a 48-hour strike next Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Thursday, more than 3,000 officers from the police, coast guard and fire service — most wearing their uniforms — protested in central Athens against the cuts in a rally to parliament.

“Police get the worst wages in the public sector. We can’t make ends meet,” 45-year-old police Sgt. Athanasios Kritsilas from the northern town of Drama, told the AP. “We don’t want anymore cuts, we’re already at rock bottom, we can’t get any lower.”http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/greek-finance-minister-meets-with-international-creditors-over-austerity-bill/2011/06/23/AGxmi5gH_story.html

It's like in the United States: We make those who receive unemployment insurance payments pay taxes at the end of the year... for unsung their unemployment benefits.. However G.E. will pay none....




The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

That may be hard to fathom for the millions of American business owners and households now preparing their own returns, but low taxes are nothing new for G.E. The company has been cutting the percentage of its American profits paid to the Internal Revenue Service for years, resulting in a far lower rate than at most multinational companies.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?_r=1&hp

The Austerity movement means the greatest transfer of wealth to the richest by taxing the poorest to death...