Yet again, we hear the cry of the old economic religion: repent before it is too late; the wages of fiscal sin is death. But is it already time to retrench? I doubt it. At least, we must recognise the risks: delayed retrenchment poses the danger of inflation and even default; premature retrenchment threatens recession and even deflation, as I argued last week. Having barely survived the biggest financial meltdown in history, we need to appreciate that these downside risks are serious.
又一次,我們聽到了舊經濟信條的呼喊:在一切已太晚之前悔悟吧;財政錯誤的代價將是滅亡。但現在已到了緊縮的時候嗎?我對此表示懷疑。至少,我們必須認識到以下風險:緊縮舉措出臺 太晚,會帶來通膨甚至違約的危險;而過早地緊縮,則會導致經濟衰退乃至通縮,我在上週已論證過這一問題。剛剛從有史以來最嚴重的金融災難中死裏逃生的我們,必須認識到這些下行風險不容小覷。