Porques e porquês

Para quem, como eu, vê esta crise a dar tantas piruetas e volta e meia perde o foco sobre o que está em causa, vale a pena ler este artigo, que abre quase com a mesma subtileza com que Philip Roth começa o Teatro de Sabbath.

Frases em destaque:

- “Germans are mad” (frase de abertura)

- “Central split in the world economy is between the countries with a trade surplus (Germany, China, Japan) and those with a trade deficit (The US, UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy).“. Alemanha, China e Japão, por um lado, e EUA, Reino Unido, Espanha, Portugal e Itália, por outro.

- “Schäuble’s resentment may well stem from his realization of his country’s ultimate impotence—why should Germany suffer just because we lived beyond our means? But if the debtor nations strive to limit imports, there is little Schäuble can do to stop us. And our living beyond our means created jobs in Stuttgart”. Porquê e porque, nomeadamente.

- “Schäuble is correct that we in the profligate nations need to get our own houses in order. But the recession has already forced much of that correction. Private sector saving as a percentage of GDP has gone through the roof, which of course is part of the reason for our slow growth. If the surplus nations—China, Germany, Japan—don’t stimulate consumption at home, global demand will inevitably shrink. Keynes was right. The surplus nations cannot force all the costs of adjustment on us. If they try, it may well backfire on them. For sixty years, German economic growth has been focused on their expanding export sector. Perhaps, if they don’t watch out, it might be their growth model that soon will be in deep crisis.”