Monday, 28 November 2011

All Aboard The Double Dip

Told you so.

But these people are, or they are entirely dependent on, classical economists. To whom unemployment is a Good Thing. It frightens the middle and working classes into submission. So there can never be too much of it.

Unless you understand that, then you do not begin to understand either New Labour or the Coalition.
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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous28 November 2011 at 19:01

    Unemployment is certainly not a good thing but austerity and yes, a double dip, is necessary to liquidate malinvestments caused during the preceding boom. There may well be classical economists who thing unemployment and pain is a good thing but the Austrian school view it as an unfortunate necessity. You may well disagree with them, being a Keynesian but at least they're honest about it.

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  2. David Lindsay28 November 2011 at 19:20

    I hardly think that anyone in the present Government has ever even heard of Austrian economics (oddly popular among certain Latin Mass attendees in the United States, despite being wholly at variance with the Magisterium).

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  3. Puzzled28 November 2011 at 19:46

    When you say "certain Latin Mass attendees in the USA" do you have anyone particular in mind? It is a bit of a jump from New Labour and the coalition in this country to a few Latin Mass attendees in the USA and the Magisterium. Could it also be 'oddly popular' among attendees of the new Mass, or among Mormons, or Scientologists?

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  4. David Lindsay28 November 2011 at 19:54

    It doesn't seem to be among attendees at the Modern Rite. It might be among Mormons, I wouldn't be surprised. And Sharron Angle, the Tea Party nominee to unseat the Mormon Leader of the Democratic Majority in the Senate, certainly did have links to Scientology.

    But there is a sort of alternative fusionism in America, not of neoliberal economics, Evangelical Protestantism and foreign policy hawkishness, but of Austrian economics, Catholic traditionalism, and Southern secessionism.

    And that is very odd idea, both because Austrian economics cannot possibly be reconciled with Catholic Teaching, and because, whether or not its inhabitants like to be informed or reminded of the fact, the economy of the South is very socialised indeed.

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  5. Strange, But True28 November 2011 at 19:59

    There truly are people who wish to create the homeland of Austro-economic Tridentinism on the reclaimed territory of the Old Confederacy, complete with Stars and Bars. The Protestantism of that territory is surpassed only by its socialism, whether they like the word or not.

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  6. David Lindsay28 November 2011 at 20:01

    We are straying off topic. But we shall return to this, and not least to the notion that the Anglophone Protestant tradition is one of very limited government activity in the economy. Tell that to the Scots-Irish on either side of the Atlantic.

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  7. Anonymous28 November 2011 at 20:31

    Exactly. The Very Serious People love unemployment because it means lowering wages as there are more workers applying for each available job, bidding down the price of the labor commodity. In the context of the United States, this is the other “Southern” strategy making the rest of the U.S. more like Dixie, with its low wages and subservient workforce.

    Of course, this will also mean that the negative aspects of the South, like more poverty, poorer health, higher divorce rates, etc., will also be imported to the rest of country, which is why I don’t understand why so many social conservatives are stuck on the Old Confederacy. The Southern people are wonderful, but their elites are pretty loathsome and have been for a long time.

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  8. Anonymous28 November 2011 at 20:56

    Sorry, that last comment should read "exported" instead of "imported." In a bit of a rush.

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