Letters to the Editor
-
Mr. Leonard, you write:
"It is hard to have a rational discussion with those who embody and express the views of a nation that is in denial."
With all due respect, I think that you and Mr. Buiter are in your own state of denial. Americans save money? With what, pray tell? The things that make a decent life for Americans of modest means - access to health care; a secure, dignified retirement; education for their children; the occasional odd vacation - have been systematically stripped away from the average American by the likes of the well-cosseted such as Mr. Buiter. Keep in mind that most Americans pay more than half their incomes in taxes and "user fees" - which is just a fancy way to describe more taxes. And don't get me started about the net worth of most Americans, other than to say that it doesn't exist. Mr. Buiter does not live in a country where thousands of people die prematurely because the government is too busy spending money on weapons that kill people than provide a basic level of care to every citizen.
The American economists who supported the stimulus know that a catastrophic meltdown in the economy would most likely result in another New Deal - and they are at least trying to forestall the worst until after the November election. The economists in the US know they have profited from the collapse of the middle class, and a commitment to restoring the middle class is going to come out of the top ten percent of wealth - exactly where most of them are. Finally, they, unlike Mr. Buiter, know that Americans might not have health care, a secure retirement, etc, but we do have guns - lot's of them. Given the power of the internet and the violent nature of Americans, it would not be unexpected if newly unemployed and homeless men decided to take matters in their own hands. Mr. Buiter should spend some time in small town America.
In a state of denial, indeed.