PARIS (Dow Jones)--Some countries need to shift immediately to austere policies, but it would be damaging if all nations began such fiscal tightening at the same time, a top aide to U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday.
"It would be very damaging for every country in the world to quickly move to fiscal exit because that [would be] a major aggregate demand contraction at a time when we need more aggregate demand," Christina Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, said at an event at the Organization for Economic Coordination and Development in Paris.
"There are obviously going to be some countries that need to exit very quickly, and move immediately to austerity measures, but there are other counties, like the United States, and certainly a number of other countries in Europe, where...we can take our time," she said.
She noted that the state of the world economy is very mixed, with rapid growth in Asia but Europe seeing much lower rates of expansion.
"That is going to be a challenge going forward, we need all of the world to be recovering from this terrible crisis," she said.
The U.S. economy, Romer said, is recovering but not booming, while unemployment remains "painfully high."
She said headwinds remain, including still-tight credit availability and budget shortfalls for states and local governments.
Romer also said that U.S. consumers aren't expected to return to their free-spending ways, and noted there hasn't been a strong recovery in foreign demand.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100527-703676.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
...at a time when we need more demand...
Italy 30 bllion EURO
Spain 15 billion EURO
Germany 10 billion EURO
Greece 4.8 billion EURO
Portugal 5 billion EURO
UK 6 billion GBP
USA = nothing ????
"It would be very damaging for every country in the world to quickly move to fiscal exit because that [would be] a major aggregate demand contraction at a time when we need more aggregate demand," Christina Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, said at an event at the Organization for Economic Coordination and Development in Paris.
"There are obviously going to be some countries that need to exit very quickly, and move immediately to austerity measures, but there are other counties, like the United States, and certainly a number of other countries in Europe, where...we can take our time," she said.
She noted that the state of the world economy is very mixed, with rapid growth in Asia but Europe seeing much lower rates of expansion.
"That is going to be a challenge going forward, we need all of the world to be recovering from this terrible crisis," she said.
The U.S. economy, Romer said, is recovering but not booming, while unemployment remains "painfully high."
She said headwinds remain, including still-tight credit availability and budget shortfalls for states and local governments.
Romer also said that U.S. consumers aren't expected to return to their free-spending ways, and noted there hasn't been a strong recovery in foreign demand.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100527-703676.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
...at a time when we need more demand...
Italy 30 bllion EURO
Spain 15 billion EURO
Germany 10 billion EURO
Greece 4.8 billion EURO
Portugal 5 billion EURO
UK 6 billion GBP
USA = nothing ????
