My finest hour

6 May, 2018 at 16:24 | Posted in Economics | 3 Comments

austerity22Fifteen years ago, Swedish citizens were asked if they wanted to join the eurozone. Of the more than 80 % of registered voters participating in the referendum close to 57 % said NO.

Yours truly — unlike the ‘usual suspects’ among establishment economists — participated​ actively in the fight against the euro — and it’s still something I’m immensely proud of.

New figures from Eurostat show that the unemployment rate in the eurozone countries is​ on average still over 8 percent. This is of course totally and utterly unacceptable. Unemployment is not only an immense economic waste. It is also a cause of poverty. In a civilised society, everyone should have the right to work. The kind of austerity policies that the euro forces many countries to pursue, counteracts the goal of a full-employment society.

The celebrated optimism of traditional economic theory, which has led to economists being looked upon as Candides, who, having left this world for the cultivation of their gardens, teach that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds provided we will let it well alone, is also to be traced, I think, to their having neglected to take account of the drag on prosperity which can be exercised by an insufficiency of effective demand.

John Maynard Keynes

Looking around in euro-land today one has to ask oneself: How much whipping can democracy take? How many more are going to get seriously hurt and ruined before we end this madness and put the euro where it belongs – in the dustbin of history!

3 Comments

  1. Let me guess. What tipped you off on the Euro was the realization that it was being created according to the plans of one Robert Alexander Mundell—the hoser who went to the University of Chicago and ruined his probably good mind. The Euro was a neoliberal project and the results were predictable as well. I guess the europeans should be glad they didn’t have to deal with Pinochet’s methods of convincing people to embrace the great neoliberal project.

    Comment by jonathan larson— 6 May, 2018 #

  2. In a civilised society, everyone should have the right to work. Lars

    Yes, but let’s not conflate wage-slavery with work. With adequate resources, e.g. land to work on and with, and adequate income, people can find their own meaningful (at least to them) work to do OR, if they choose, they might voluntarily work for someone else.

    Comment by Andrew Anderson— 6 May, 2018 #

    • Yes. My goal is not a full-employment society. Jobs kill souls.

      Comment by Robert Mitchell— 7 May, 2018 #


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