On November 7, 2012, William Greider writes in The Nation:
At least nine of the economies in Western Europe are already contracting. Their euro debt crisis threatens to pull down others. The anemic American recovery remains stalled by its blocked housing sector—there are still too many homeowners drowning in mortgage debt to trigger normal home sales and construction. Private investment is sagging, corporate profits softening too. Even China’s growth is slowing at an alarming rate.
If Congress fails to defuse the threat of the post-election “fiscal cliff,” austerity will be in the saddle for sure. The International Monetary Fund, not usually known for dire forecasts, predicts increased risk of worldwide stagnation, and has warned specifically against the “excessive fiscal consolidation” of austerity measures. Why haven’t the presidential candidates talked about this? Maybe for the same reason they didn’t talk about global warming: they saw no votes in either.
Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke, almost alone among influential officials, has been sounding the alarm in his understated, scholarly manner.
http://www.thenation.com/article/171126/can-federal-reserve-help-prevent-second-recession
