350 Economists Warn President and Congress: Bad “Grand Bargain” on Deficits Could Kill Recovery

350 prominent economists issued a statement on Wednesday warning that “the fragile recovery is threatened by obsessive concern with cutting deficits that has infected both parties.” The economists from universities and research groups across the U.S. and the world reminded politicians that the U.S. economy in the post-election period is still “marked by mass unemployment, rising poverty, and declining wages.” And they warned that big spending cuts aimed at reducing deficits could throw the economy back into recession.

Their statement, called Jobs and Growth, Not Austerity, was written by Robert Borosage and Roger Hickey, co-directors of the Institute for America’s Futureand by Robert Kuttner, founder of The American Prospect.

The statement and signers can be found at jobsnotausterity.org

In their statement, the economists hold up the cautionary example of European countries that have in plunged themselves into recession as a result of misguided policies aimed at reducing deficits: The economists declare, “As Great Britain, Ireland, Spain and Greece have shown, inflicting austerity on a weak economy leads to deeper recession, rising unemployment and increasing misery.”

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