Like father, like son

Another J K Galbraith, the one that is still alive, has written a piece questioning the conventional wisdom on the need for austerity programmes as a response to the fallout from the financial crisis. It is a general restatement of the Keynesian principles his father advocated continuously.

In truth, the deficit/debt uproar is a deliberate effort to sidetrack attention, to defeat the will of the electorates in the US, as well as Greece among others, who stubbornly insist on effective action, economic recovery and financial reform.

Of course electorates are capable of wishing for the impossible, but it is a real point that democratic practice is undermined where there is an elite consensus on political economy that dictates policy, regardless of the wishes of electorates and representatives. I do not have the expertise to contribute, but my sense of unease at the triumph of economic orthodoxy and the near absence of alternatives in mainstream debate continues.