The Leaderless Global Economy

This article describes the global economic problem quite well.  We know how we got into trouble but we are focused on the wrong way to get out of trouble.  We have a huge debt problem that we have to solve but we can't fix the debt problem as long as we have a large unemployment problem.  Austerity policies only make the debt burden worse because tax revenues fall as a result of high unemployment.

Since we have a highly interdependent global economy, we need global leadership to resolve our problems.  There were periods in which Britain, the US and Germany could provide the necessary leadership.  The US certainly provided leadership following WW ll.  Most nations, including the US, were burdened with debt but we grew our way out of debt.  The necessary leadership is not present today.  Domestic politics have transformed the agenda.  We don't have leaders in any of our largest economies that have the will to lead us in the right direction.  They appear to be prisoners of domestic politics that exaggerate the problem of national debt and minimize the problem of high unemployment.