Count your blessing that the United States did not put deficit reduction over stimulating jobs as our solution to the Great Recession. Europe’s austerity approach has given them no blessings to count.
Economists say it is likely to get worse.
How much did some of these national economies drop.
Cyprus down 0.8 percent.
Greece down 6.2 percent.
Portugal down 1.2 percent.
Spain down 0.4 percent.
“Overall it confirms the idea that the euro zone is in a recession phase,” Aline Schuiling, economist at ABN AMRO, said. “What we see is a vicious circle of budget cuts, high interest rates in the periphery and sovereign debt rising…We expect another contraction in Q3.”
According to the Reuter’s story there is a “growing debate inside and outside Europe about the sense of austerity drives.”
What definitely doesn’t make any sense is for there to be any debate about the U.S. following the austerity, cut-the-deficit-priority European model.