I’m confused, didn’t European nations have smaller stimulus programs compared to the United States? Isn’t he consequently arguing for the US to become more European in solving this crisis?
The funnt thing is that Germany had a BIGGER stimulus than the US. Look at the data of real government consumption of goods and services, it has risen more in “austerity” Germany than in the United States.
But you have to consider that government spending in Germany is about 280 billion euros, while the US budget is at 3.8 trillion. It's a larger country and all, but these number are really out of proportion.
German taxes as a percentage of GDP is 39.3%. The US number is 28.2%. Government income should be about the same as government expenditures, so that means that the German stimulus was even bigger than the number in my previous comment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_revenu...
