KRUGMAN: On "Permanent Class Of Jobless Americans"-"Let’s be clear: this is a policy decision."

[kpete]

OP-ED COLUMNIST
The Jobless Trap
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: April 21, 2013 5



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So we are indeed creating a permanent class of jobless Americans.

And let’s be clear: this is a policy decision. The main reason our economic recovery has been so weak is that, spooked by fear-mongering over debt, we’ve been doing exactly what basic macroeconomics says you shouldn’t do — cutting government spending in the face of a depressed economy.

It’s hard to overstate how self-destructive this policy is. Indeed, the shadow of long-term unemployment means that austerity policies are counterproductive even in purely fiscal terms. Workers, after all, are taxpayers too; if our debt obsession exiles millions of Americans from productive employment, it will cut into future revenues and raise future deficits.

Our exaggerated fear of debt is, in short, creating a slow-motion catastrophe. It’s ruining many lives, and at the same time making us poorer and weaker in every way. And the longer we persist in this folly, the greater the damage will be.

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Read it all:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/opinion/krugman-the-jobless-trap.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0