A funny (if disgusting) piece...

While some politicians are aware of the realities of life and even of the present "slow crash" of our civilization (see the previous post in this blog), others are in the exact opposite situation.

In last week´s economy supplement of the biggest and most influent Portuguese weekly newspaper ("Expresso", economy supplement, from 11 January 2014), I found a text that must join the top 10 list of the stupidest pieces of opinion I ever read.

I is titled "Mais austeridade, quem nos acode?" (in English "More austerity, who will save us?"), and with this title, I thought: This must be a fun one, lets read it.
Note:
"Austerity" is the dirty word that left propaganda uses to classify the limited efforts to slightly reduce state spending in the broke "troika assisted" European countries (and also in some pre-broke counties that are just being "assisted" by extremely lax QE policies of the central bankers). In Ireland, Greece, Portugal (and in smaller scale in Spain, Italy, etc.) populist/social-democrat governments, forced by lack of money to spend even more, have been trying to somewhat reign in spending.
The extreme left claims that compressing state spending from, lets say, 50% to about 47% of GDP - google "fauxsterity", or just look it up here...) is a deliberate policy pursued by the "neo-liberal" (the insult applied by the extreme left to the social-democrats) to punish the poor, out of pure meanness.

Back to the text in Expresso (see the illustration just below).

I will not try to translate the text, since it defends the usual: reigning in state spending is wrong, increasing spending is the right course to solve all the society's problems, and to generate the economic growth that is needed to service the state debt, etc..
It suffices to say that this text would put even Krugman to shame with its superficiality and disconnection with reality - and (because they function in a circular propaganda ring) it was promptly grabbed by the leftist minions that intend to attain power in Portugal in the next elections to justify another small attack on the present "austerity".

So, since the text was so particularly stupid, and since the author is identified by name but classified simply as "economist", I went to look up who he might be...
And BINGO!
He is nothing less the "secretary of state" (a junior minister, in Portugal) responsible by the state budget during the previous government (2005-2011).
That was the government that (following 35 years of uninterrupted public deficits, European Union warnings over excessive deficits and so on), overspent so much that market lending to Portugal ceased, forcing that same government into signing a fast agreement with the "troika" of last resource official lenders, the agreement that enforces the present "austerity" measures!

Even during his tenure in that government, the author of this text in "Expresso" was an especially funny representative of delirious Keynesianism.
Once, in an important public talk, he went as far as classifying his (and his government) policies as "Keynesianismo Iluminado" ("Enlightened Keynesianism"), in the best North Korean lingo...

Obviously, in more serious countries, or in more serious times, this funny specimen would be thrown in jail to rotten there, or worse. After all, his government and his policies bankrupted a country, and created lots of pain and sufferance to millions (from mere disrupted careers, marriages, etc., to occasional effective deaths due to necessary reduction of medical spending).
In Portugal?
He is now a consultant for the central bank ("Banco de Portugal"), and is seemingly well-regarded in the hare-brained Keynesian press of this funny, de-evolving, small country...