At the Institute for New Economic Thinking conference at Bretton Woods, David Brancaccio asked top economic minds for a short answer to a big question: Two years after efforts to repair the post-crisis financial system began in earnest, how are we doing, and what still needs fixing? Richard Koo is chief analyst at Nomura Research Institute, the analysis arm of Japan's Nomura Securities.
Washington is doing exactly what this guy advocates: borrowing and spending money like mad men. How is that working out? It is simply crazy to think government spending, robbing Peter to pay Paul, can "stimulate" an economy. Sure Paul is doing something for the government, making predator drones maybe, but what is Peter doing? Every cent the government spends into the economy must first come out of the economy. Government spending is horribly wasteful.
JiveDadson 9 months ago
Need more vids from Paddy Hirsch !!!!
tfrenn 9 months ago
@drmkkk I'm no expert, but I don't think he's arguing government vs. private sector. I think what he's trying to say is that if private sector participants are unilaterally focusing on balance sheet repairs with almost no spending, revenues would fall and inturn disrupt balance sheet repair, and the cycle could spiral out of control. To compensate this unusual phenomenon, government intervention is unequivocally required.
My question is - how can any government know when to stop? Japan didn't..
comfortablesofa 10 months ago
Koo is an excellent economist and very learned - but wrong. His book The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics expands on this thesis. But he never addresses the artificiality of the low interest rates that spurned borrowing in the first place and must stay in place if the gov. is to follow his prescription. He takes the distortion in the price of money as a given. Also, the Yen was never the world's reserve currency and many of his examples do not apply yo $. Nevertheless, he is worth reading.
MarcusCMarcellus 10 months ago
This guy is a keynesian! What we learned from Japan's model is DON'T DO WHAT HE SUGGESTS!
USBankruptcy 10 months ago
What bout government mis-allocation of said moneys?!
The government will create GDP, but this will not be real GDP, and in the long run the underlying problem will persist... hence Japan is having troubles for so long. If government was the answer, they would be in positive territory long time ago.
drmkkk 10 months ago
America is toast what he is trying to say
acts131 10 months ago
Ron Paul 2012 ~~~~!!!!
YoungSeungSKY 10 months ago