Rob Mudge: Economy: Solidarity is Europe's Only Hope

In an opinion piece for DW's Transatlantic Voices column, James K Galbraith argues that neither growth nor austerity are the right remedies for the euro-zone crisis. Instead, the focus should be on solidarity. James K Galbraith holds the Lloyd M Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government-Business Relations at the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin. His most recent book is Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis (Oxford University Press). The austerity moment is passing. Britain's double-dip recession and Europe's 11 percent unemployment show where austerity leads. Public protests in Greece and Spain show the suffering it causes. Political upheaval, so far in France, shows that electorates will not tolerate it for long. Now fashionable opinion offers the "growth" alternative. Growth means higher profits, better wages and more jobs. What a fine idea. The problem, though, is that growth is only a goal. It is not a policy. And every lobbyist, political hack and 10-cent crank has a strategy to make growth happen. The details consist of whatever it was they most wanted beforehand. Thus the American rich urge tax cuts as a "growth strategy." European employers urge "labor market reform," depending on whom you ask. The most adept American thinkers favor both: Stimulus now and consolidation later. In this way they can embrace cuts in pensions and health care as part of a "strategy for growth." Neither here nor there! This is nonsense and most people see that clearly. If austerity was a deceit, growth is a chimera!i