Colluding in the Politics of Austerity
https://portside.org/2017-12-18/colluding-politics-austerity
Portside Date:
Author: Robert Kuttner - Co- Editor of American Prospect
Date of source:
ourfuture.org
'Next to come is the long awaited grand bargain of the austerity lobby, in which Republicans agree to close some tax loopholes (which start out grotesquely swollen) and Democrats agree to breach the previously sacrosanct fortresses of Social Security and Medicare.
'On all counts, advantage: Republicans.
'Long term, colluding in the politics of budget austerity has left Obama with no real capacity to offer the public investment that the economy needs for a robust, broadly-based recovery, and leaves him with the prospect of a weak economy between now and the end of his term–unless he drastically shifts course and repudiates the entire view of the budget and the economy.'