Not that those who reap rewards from austerity will admit it, but the IMF’s own calculations show that austerity accelerates economic decline.
Don’t say it too loudly, because it doesn’t want you to know: The International Monetary Fund admits that austerity is not working.
The IMF of course did not come out and say this directly. But it was there, unmistakably, in its World Economic Outlook published on its web site on October 9. Forecasting the world economic growth rate to continue to decline, the IMF genteelly noted that “Public spending cutbacks and the still-weak financial system [are] weighing on prospects.”
And please don’t complain about the bureaucratically tepid language — you didn’t expect an IMF official to call a press conference and apologize? No you didn’t. But that is as clear an admission as we are likely to get from the horse’s mouth that cutbacks, the magic snake oil that the IMF, World Bank and other financial institutions relentlessly impose, weakens economies.
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Original: Quietly, the IMF confesses that austerity does not work