Because a lump of salt that big couldn’t be called a “grain”.
The “stimulomaniacs” have been growing in numbers as of late. Too bad for them they’re wrong.
“Austerity” to blame. But where is the austerity?
The Keynesian stimulus crowd blames austerity for the world’s economic woes without bothering to examine facts. I advise them first to consult my colleague at the German Institute for Economic Research (Georg Erber, I See Austerity Everywhere But in the Statistics), who, unlike them, has actually taken the time to examine the European Union’s statistics as compiled by its statistical agency, Eurostat.
The official Keynesian story is that the PIIGS of Europe (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) have been devastated by cutbacks in public spending. Austerity has made things worse rather than better – clear proof that Keynesian stimulus is the answer. Keynesians claim the lack of stimulus (of course paid for by someone else) has spawned costly recessions which threaten to spread. In other words, watch out Germany and Scandinavia: If you don’t pony up, you’ll be next.
Erber finds fault with this Keynesian narrative. The official figures show that PIIGS governments embarked on massive spending sprees between 2000 and 2008. During this period, their combined general government expenditures rose from 775 billion Euros to 1.3 trillion – a 75 percent increase. Ireland had the largest percentage increase (130 percent), and Italy the smallest (40 percent). These spending binges gave public sector workers generous salaries and benefits, paid for bridges to nowhere, and financed a gold-plated transfer state. What the state gave has proven hard to take away as the riots in Southern Europe show.
In other words, the Keynesians are calling a slowing of the growth of government “austerity” and are rallying behind the illusion that governments are hurting people by shrinking their size. When, in fact, they are still growing, just not at the rate the Keynesians approve of.
So, I guess you could say that the Keynesians are actually “wrong”, so much as they’re lying. This lying is one of the causes of the rioting and other violence currently being seen on the south side of the Eurozone. These riots then get used by facist groups such as the “Golden Dawn” group in Greece, which then get called “right wing” groups in the media, and the leftists get the two-fer of being able to blame “austerity” violence on the “right wing”.
It must be nice being able to set the world on fire and then only have to roast marshmallows while pointing fingers.
SAFETY: please think about no-fire/delay-fire …