It has been joked that the letters IMF stand for “it’s mostly fiscal”. The International Monetary Fund has long been a stalwart advocate of austerity as the route out of financial crisis, and every year it chastises dozens of countries for their fiscal indiscipline. Fiscal consolidation – a euphemism for cuts to government spending – is a staple of the fund’s rescue programmes. A year ago the IMF was suggesting that the US had a fiscal gap of as much as 10 per cent of gross domestic product.
國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)曾被戲稱爲「以財政爲主的組織(it's mostly fiscal)」。長期以來,該組織一直是緊縮政策的忠實擁躉,認爲它是走出金融危機的必由之路。每年IMF都會因數十個國家財政上的放縱而譴責它們。「財政整固」(削減政府開支的委婉說法)是IMF衆多救援計劃的主要內容。一年前,該組織曾暗示美國財政缺口高達其國內生產毛額(GDP)的10%。