Politicians Who Want Us to Live Beyond Our Means — Peter Cooper

Summary:
Politicians often tell us that we should live within our means. Quite right. Unfortunately, many of them do not appear to understand what this actually entails when it comes to fiscal policy. So far as most economists are concerned, the events of the last decade have thoroughly discredited advocates of austerity. Yet, it remains quite common to hear politicians from across the political spectrum calling for reductions in fiscal deficits or even fiscal surpluses. There appears to be little awareness that, in most countries, a call for a fiscal surplus is, literally, a call for the society to live beyond its means....  Excellent  summary. Save it and pass it on.heteconomistPoliticians Who Want Us to Live Beyond Our Means Peter Cooper

Topics:
Mike Norman considers the following as important: economics and policy, economics and politics, MMT, Political Economy

This could be interesting, too:

tom writes The Ukraine – Russia war explained: how the US exploited internal fractures in the post-Soviet order (plus lessons for Georgia)

tom writes Causes of the Ukraine War & the case for Georgian non-alignment — An interview I gave in Tbilisi, Georgia

tom writes We still ask if 80 years ago they (ordinary Germans) knew?

tom writes Varieties of capitalism and societal happiness: theory and empirics