Against Stereotype, Budget Hawks and War Hawks Edition

Against Stereotype, Budget Hawks and War Hawks Edition

by Ivan Eland, September 28, 2012

http://original.antiwar.com/eland/2012/09/27/against-stereotype-budget-hawks-and-war-hawks-edition/

French President Francois Hollande, by reputation, is an unlikely budget hawk; as a candidate for office, he ran against austerity measures. But the realities of governing sometimes complicate politicians’ promises. After taking office, the euro crisis is now forcing Hollande to pledge to cut the French budget deficit down to 3% of GDP by the end of 2013. To keep the crisis from France’s door, although he is raising taxes too, he is preparing to cut at least $42 billion from the budget. Sounding rhetorically more like German Chancellor Angela Merkel or American conservatives and libertarians, Hollande argued that better finances would restore economic growth to a stagnant French economy — not that such austerity would bring about economic collapse. With government spending accounting for more than 56% of GDP, the French economy, like those of many nations in Europe and that of the United States, is being chronically dragged down by excessive government expenditure and debt. Hollande seems to realize, unlike many American politicians, that economic growth is unlikely to be restored until deficits and debt are reduced.