Fatal Distraction

The awful thing is that those of us who warned about all this — based not on some unorthodox doctrine, but on basic textbook macroeconomics — weren’t so much argued down as just ignored. Somehow, those with actual power were convinced that fiscal austerity wasn’t just an option but the only option, and that anyone arguing with that — even people like me and Joe Stiglitz, who had a few easy-to-understand credentials — were just not part of the serious discussion.

I haven’t fully organized my thoughts on exactly why this happened. But whatever the reasons, we are now reaping the consequences of a disastrous distraction of policy makers, who have been fighting phantoms while the real problems festered.