Thread by @DanielaGabor

on the panel with the father of the German debt break, a new experience :)

https://twitter.com/ForumNewEconomy/status/1310869779046117377

'I wont be an apologist for the current #SchwarzeNull system'

'there is an issue with fiscal sustainability, with building future fire power for a country with an ageing population'

'sustainability = fit for the future, not about control or anti-state ideology' (hawks will be hawks)

'true that public investment has fallen, but social spending hasnt, and that shows you can target inequality with fiscal discipline'

we now move into language games: 'we should think carefully about what is public investment'

'German conservative forces are less powerful than those in the US or UK... we collective recognize that we need a strong and efficient state that can deal with climate crisis'

this entire speech is an apology for #SchwarzeNull: 'not entirely the fault of austerity that public investment has fallen dramatically in Germany'

another Picketty public service: 'if r<g, of course we can rethink the fiscal stance away from debt break'

oh no, now we're into 'tweaking the debt break' territory, which I guess is as good as it gets given German political consensus

wow: same former Ministry of Finance/father of debt break 'Fiscal Compact was a stupid German idea pushed to discipline periphery countries'

This session made me think of Hannah Arendt, version 'banality of macroeconomic evil'