"If you keep piling austerity programme on austerity programme for a sufficiently large number of years, then the policy might eventually work. But that’s a politically unrealistic proposition. Portugal, for example, is already cutting subsistence payments for very poor people to meet the agreed deficit targets.
I believe therefore that crisis resolution still has to happen, but I see no evidence that we are getting there, not even in small steps. I do not expect any change in this situation even after the German elections. Since the crisis is not going to resolve itself, I cannot see any fundamental change in the situation – except that the ECB has removed the risk of accidents in the short term."
Wolgang Munchau, "Crutches prop up euro, but it’s still lame" (Financial Times, 29.10.2012).
