And by Grand Mal, I mean, big disease, of course. [explanation added, in case people got the wrong idea]
Well, I have to say that after last year's win by Francois Hollande who, during his campaign said that austerity was bad, decided to embrace austerity full on. And now look where it's gotten him and France.
This, mind you, despite the IMF doing a complete about-face, now saying that fiscal multipliers are indeed large, and therefore austerity actually damages an economy.
If you are French, of course you're disappointed.
If you are conservative, of course you're looking for excuses, because, well, if fiscal multipliers are large, then Keynes was right all along and austerity has SLOWED economic recovery, not helped it.
[added] Speaking of fiscal multipliers, most everyone including people who voted for Republicans (I'm talking about you folks in the defense industry up in Virginia) will soon see what this noise is, about fiscal multipliers. If the economy tanks because of the sequester cuts, then fiscal multipliers are large and cutting government spending was not prudent. I'm not expecting a mea culpa from Tea Party supporters, though -- they're inconceivably fixated on smaller government, not about the economic outcomes.
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