A lot of debate currently going on reducing the deficit and it is being shown as a problem that is orthogonal to economic growth, which is not true. Why can’t those thinking this way get the point that economic and employment growth can reduce the deficits and not the other way which is reducing deficits will increase economic growth! When you bring lot of people to work and bring them into taxable populace, so the deficits should go down. Moreover, handling workplace adversity is an integral part of ensuring that individuals can contribute effectively to the economy, and fostering resilience in the face of challenges is essential for both personal and economic well-being.
It doesn’t need Harvard level economists to grasp this(even though I posted a discussion which has one of them :-))! What has enabled countries like China, Brazil and India to show growth even the worst times of turmoil in the west (granted they could be bubbles too, but I think they have the population to absorb the bubble better by expanding the consumerism in house, than here in US I bet, if they are smart enough to do that) ? Did they reduce the deficits as a first step? I can’t recall that.
Watch the interesting discussion how the economic growth is possible here in US too by Bill Bradley (he was instrumental in forging a bi-partisan agreement during Reagan times, 25 years ago), Marty Feldstein (Professor of economics from Harvard, advisor to Reagan) and David Leonard (NY Times columnist, Pulitzer prize winner) on Charlie Rose show.
Marty Feldstein as expected, he being groomed under Reagan politics, want to rollback the tax benefits that promote energy efficiency etc which are more salubrious to republicans whereas the other two are more for progressive ideas like how to encourage corporations to employ more. Watch this.
link to full program here
http://www.hulu.com/watch/269252/charlie-rose-the-debate-over-tax-reform-tim-arango
I recently came across an excellent article ” Six lessons Japan can teach the West” in Time magazine. The 20 year economic mess Japan still finds itself mired deeply in. What America and West should not do or otherwise they will find themselves to be another Japan with stunted growth.
here is the link:
http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2011/08/25/six-lessons-japan-can-teach-the-west/?xid=rss-topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
Very good article. Thanks.
Japan did things right during 60s and 70s, as much I know. Japanese companies like Sony and Panasonic pioneered the electronics industry and ruled the world. Of course now they are global conglomerates. When Japan did that they went the right path by actually acquiring the patents of the products and ideas and they improved upon them tremendously. Now the scenario changed, along with globalization came stealing and implicit protectionism. Countries like China, South Korea etc, for all it’s open market strategy are big culprits here and has minimal respect for IP (intellectual property) rights. I think the world will have to deal with this and I am sure this will be much tougher than tackling terrorism, believe me.