NYU Professor Nouriel Roubini’s latest article in Slate (How to prevent a Depression) is worth a read. While I think the so-called Dr Doom is much too pessimistic about the global economy, he’s absolutely right about this:

…we must accept that austerity measures, necessary to avoid a fiscal train wreck, have recessionary effects on output. So, if countries in the Eurozone’s periphery such as Greece or Portugal are forced to undertake fiscal austerity, countries able to provide short-term stimulus should do so and postpone their own austerity efforts. These countries include the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the core of the Eurozone, and Japan.