Bill Moyers: Martin Wolf on economy

Informed, clear discussion of the US economy and the recent shutdown. Martin Wolf is chief economics commentator at the Financial Times and offers up a rational analysis of the US budget issues and the ongoing wrangling in Washington. Specifically, his points about the following are good ones and sadly not discussed enough in the major news outlets:

• growing inequality in the United States is a serious problem

• the budget cuts, called the "sequester," have hurt the economy, not helped it, as does austerity in general

• the recession should have been treated with more stimulus not less

• the Democrats should be using this moment to defend the argument, given plenty of evidence, that the government has played a key role in moving the country out of recession

This last point is interesting, but perhaps unsurprising. The Democrats are tasked with pretending they are a labor party, so accurately describing the role of government in improving people's lives, one would think, would be a useful message for approaching elections. However, the Democratic Party is now basically Republican. The GOP, on the other hand, has moved to the right to a degree that threatens its future.

The Republican Party's exit from American politics would be a step forward. Likewise, the entrance of an actual labor party would be a huge improvement - and something most Americans support given their policy preferences. Also, bound up in the realization of these two ideas would be the removal of libertarianism from consideration as a viable socioeconomic argument.




http://billmoyers.com/segment/martin-wolf-on-the-debt-ceiling-circus