> >
> >I completely agree with this. I think that both Japan and Euroland should at
> >the very least try to cut off further credit to the Great Debtor. Growth
> >strategies based on sending crap to the US in return for yet more IOUs are
> >fundamentally wrongheaded. The ECB should have pursued a strong Euro policy
> >from the start, with the explicit goal of turning the US balance of trade
> >positive (get some of our money back!), replacing at least partly the dollar
> >with the Euro as reserve currency and dampening European capital
> >flight towards
> >the Greenspan Bubble.
>
> Thus boosting European unemployment to 15%...
>
> Brad DeLong
Not really. Exports to the United Deadbeats could be more than replaced by even a moderate program of Keynesian spending and income transfer to the poorer periphery. I can think of $100 billion worth of infrastructure in Spain alone - and that's just *necessary* infrastructure.
I cannot understand this "there's no alternative" attitude. I mean, it's not even necessary to come up with anything new to replace the current "send them crap, buy their worthless paper" approach. Just try stuff that worked before.
-- Enrique Diaz-Alvarez Office # (607) 255 5034 Electrical Engineering Home # (607) 272 4808 112 Phillips Hall Fax # (607) 255 4565 Cornell University mailto:enrique at ee.cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14853 http://peta.ee.cornell.edu/~enrique