The signs that the emphasis on “austerity” in Europe is waning is unmistakable. The Italian election, the Cyprus crisis, and the questions concerning the Rogoff-Reinhart hypothesis have all undermined the focus on budget cutting. In fact, European Union officials don’t use the word austerity to describe their policies. The new catch-phrase is “differentiated, growth-friendly fiscal consolidation.” But the inclusion of the words “fiscal consolidation” should serve as a signal that there are some in the Union who still wish to see large budget cuts. Ending austerity is not the same as fostering stimulus. We’ll have to see if there is anyone in the Union who believes in Keynes.
The controversy over the use of chemical weapons–sarin gas–in Syria continues, with doubts arising from the validity of some of the evidence being reviewed by the US and Great Britain. Sarin gas is an incredibly toxic weapon, and has been used in the past, in Iraq and by a terrorist group in Japan.
The sea surface temperature off the North Atlantic coast is the highest recorded in 150 years. It is hard to draw any substantive conclusions from this reading, but it will have an effect on the spawning and migratory patterns of many marine species. This new evidence will need to be analyzed for a long period of time before we can really figure out what it means, but the temperatures bear monitoring.
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