World Leaders at U.S. Meeting Urge Growth, Not Austerity

[kpete]

Source: New York Times

World Leaders at U.S. Meeting Urge Growth, Not Austerity
By HELENE COOPER
Published: May 19, 2012


CAMP DAVID, Md. — Leaders of the world’s richest countries banded together on Saturday to press Germany to back more pro-growth policies to halt the deepening debt crisis in Europe, as President Obama for the first time gained widespread support for his argument that Europe, and the United States by extension, cannot afford Chancellor Angela Merkel’s one-size-fits-all approach emphasizing austerity.

Pointedly recognizing “that the right measures are not the same for each of us,” the leaders of the Group of 8 nations, at a meeting hosted by Mr. Obama at Camp David, committed to “take all necessary steps” to strengthen their economies. They said they wanted to keep Greece in the euro zone and vowed to work to promote growth in Europe, though they did not detail how they would do so.

“Our imperative,” the leaders said in their statement, “is to promote growth and jobs.”

It is by no means the final word in the growth-versus-austerity fight that has been under way for two years. Even with the future of the European currency union in doubt, Germany has insisted that Europe’s ailing economies tackle their financial problems through spending cuts, a policy that critics say has caused higher unemployment, brought Greece to the edge of bankruptcy and worsened the crises in Spain and Italy.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/world/world-leaders-at-us-meeting-urge-growth-not-austerity.html?_r=2

[Fozzledick]

1. What could have provoked this sudden outbreak of sanity?

[DCKit]

2. Dog knows, but it's about time the adults got engaged. nt

[TBF]

4. Election year. nt

[socialist_n_TN]

5. To the heart of things as usual T.......

[TBF]

7. ...

[freshwest]

11. Could have been Clinton, could have been seeing the guillotines being built, LOL. We'll never know.

Listened to one of my favorite wackos on youtube last night claim that the worst of the Powers That Were were headed to prison. IDK.

Some claim the tide is turning. We'll never know what really happened and if this is significant. Let's hope reason prevails.

I believe people of good will are willing to sacrifice in order to make things work for all. But as soon as I say that, I am always reminded of this conversation:

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

~ Lewis Carroll from Alice in Wonderland

[TBF]

3. Mr. Obama greeted his guests for dinner in a rustic wood cabin -

“How’ve you been?” Mr. Obama asked Ms. Merkel.

She shrugged and pursed her lips.

“Well, you have a few things on your mind,” Mr. Obama said consolingly.

[freshwest]

10. CORRECTION: It was the rustic wood SHED, not the rustic wood CABIN!

I saw what you did there...

[Andy823]

6. It's about time they figured this out.

The idea of cutting programs for those who need it, the elderly, the poor, those who lost their jobs, etc. and then give tax breaks the 1% is totally insane!

Yes we need to cut wasteful spending, like tax breaks and subsidies for big oil companies, huge corporate farms, and we need to regulate the banks and wall street so they don't take us into another recession like the one Bush put us in. Since the 1% are doing pretty damned well with all the bailouts and such, I think it would be only fair to "START" by ending their welfare programs. Get rid of the Bush tax cuts, take away all the loop holes the rich use to avoid paying their share of taxes. Make people like Romney pay a higher tax rate than the middle class on his investment earnings, and do something about those people, once again like Romney, who hide money offshore to avoid paying taxes on BILLIONS of dollars.

After we do all of that, then start looking at other ways to cut programs that are not really doing any good for anyone, which I am sure there are a lot of. We can fix things if we do it right, but but it never should be put on the backs of those who can least afford it while those multi millionaires and billionaires keep getting richer while the rest of the people in the world suffer.

[cstanleytech]

9. Agreed. Its to bad none of the politicians have the balls to admit though that defense spending

is a large part of whats breaking us to, imagine what they could do if they slashed our defense budget down to 200 billion a year (which would still be more than China, Russia, France and the UK combined spend) and put that money instead towards things like alternate energy sources as well as other infrastructure like the highways, bridges and dams.

[GliderGuider]

8. Growth is a solution? And here I thought it was the problem.

Silly me.

More on carrying capacity and why we're already deep into overshoot: http://www.paulchefurka.ca/CC_Overshoot.html

[airplaneman]

13. great article in the link thanks for sharing n/t.

[iamthebandfanman]

12. You have to spend money to make money...

I always thought that was an old business saying..
sure dont hear it anymore ..