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Test - The Framework of Globalization: "Ideological Ratings"
[CA v1.1]
"So S&P1 has downgraded France [from AA+ to AA]. […] I think it’s useful to compare IMF2 projections for France with those for another country that has been getting nice words from the raters3 lately, the UK […]:
[Government Debt as % of Gross Domestic Product4; IMF Data]
France is slightly less indebted5, and the IMF expects this difference to widen a bit. So why is France getting downgraded? Because, S&P says, it hasn’t carried out the reforms that will enhance its medium-term growth prospects […] People at places like the European Commission talk with great confidence about structural reform and the wonderful things it does, but there’s very little clear evidence to support that confidence. […] I’m sorry, but I think that when S&P complains about lack of reform, it’s actually complaining that [François] Hollande is raising, not cutting taxes on the wealthy, and in general isn’t free-market enough to satisfy the Davos6 set. Remember that a couple of months ago Olli Rehn7 dismissed France’s fiscal restraint8 — which has actually been exemplary — because the French, unacceptably, are raising taxes rather than slashing9 the safety net10. So just as the austerity11 drive isn’t really about fiscal responsibility, the push for “structural reform” isn’t really about growth; in both cases, it’s mainly about dismantling12 the welfare state13. […] It’s much more about ideology than about defensible14 economic analysis". Krugman, Paul, "Ideological Ratings", Blog, The New York Times, November 8, 2013 (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/ideological-ratings/?_r=0). Paul R. Krugman is an American economist, Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University. In 2008, Krugman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
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Standard & Poor's is an american financial credit-rating agency. The International Monetary Fund. A person who estimates or determines a rating. The total value of the goods and services produced by the people of a nation during a year (not including the value of income earned in foreign countries). Owing something (such as money or thanks) to someone or something : in debt. Meeting place (in Switzerland) of the World Economic Forum. European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro. A way of limiting, controlling, or stopping something. To make a long cut in (something) with a knife or other sharp weapon = to reduce (something) by a large amount. A net that is placed below acrobats to catch them if they fall = something that helps someone who is in a difficult situation. A situation in which there is not much money and it is spent only on things that are necessary. To destroy (something) in an orderly way. A social system in which a government is responsible for the economic and social welfare of its citizens and has policies to provide free health care, money for people without jobs, etc. Able to be defended or protected.
