Excerpted from the book preface generously written by Christine Kerdellant,\u00a0Assistant Managing Editor of \u2018L’Express\u2019, Managing Editor of \u2018L’Expansion\u2019:<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2019 The \u2018doctrine-slayer\u2019 Michel Santi is not an economist like all the others. It starts\u00a0with his career. Unlike his colleagues, he has not learned life from textbooks and\u00a0econometric models. He has not worn out his eyes staring at endless numbers,\u00a0graphs and Excel spreadsheets. He has experienced “real life” in a for-profit\u00a0business. Even worse, he worked for a bank, where he was\u2026wait\u2026a trader! …What\u00a0is an older, former \u2018golden boy\u2019 of trading doing in this Macroeconomics messy\u00a0world, where one does not become a billionaire and is insulted by the Queen of\u00a0England because we did not see the crisis coming?<\/p>\n
Michel Santi is also not an economist like the others because of how he speaks. And\u00a0that explains a lot. Is it his particular viewpoint that has given him this biting look,\u00a0this iconoclastic thought process, and this sharp writing style stripped of any\u00a0jargon? It belongs to no school of thought except the one of intelligence and\u00a0common sense (which seem incompatible these days). Whether dealing with\u00a0economic policy, government policies, the origins of a crisis or regulatory matters,\u00a0he does not hesitate to condemn pretense and \u2018trompe l’oeil\u2019 logic. He is the\u00a0destroyer of the single thought…and convergent thinking.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Synopsis<\/strong>: “Austerians of all countries: Unite!” This is indeed the mantra recited by\u00a0the obsessive fiscal and budgetary disciplinarians whose arguments take on a\u00a0moralistic tone in order to mask the real issues. They must do penance, make\u00a0sacrifices and tighten their belts in times of crisis. And they claim to reach a virtuous\u00a0state by taking the path of austerity. Behind this class struggle waged with fervor\u00a0and disdain, proponents of this discipline are well aware that the budget savings\u00a0and the decline of the state will only allocate more resources to their benefit. It\u00a0seems that the fundamental concern of these “austerians” is not to let this crisis go\u00a0to waste without adopting ever more “structural” reforms. Allowing for growth\u00a0today, undoing austerity measures and the unbearable vise gripping the people\u00a0would … waste a good crisis, and not benefit the sacrosanct rationalization,\u00a0deregulation and competitiveness! For economic conservatism cannot prosper\u00a0except in social desolation. These are the same \u2018\u2019austerian\u2019\u2019 diehards who ardently\u00a0desire a surge in French public debt financing costs in order to force the country to\u00a0make the right decisions to improve competitiveness…For those who have not yet\u00a0understood, we now find ourselves in an authentic “Shock Doctrine” as described by\u00a0Naomi Klein, where a tiny minority – have I mentioned the term \u2018elite\u2019? – exploits the\u00a0misfortunes of others in order to strengthen its power. The European citizen never\u00a0requested this colossal public debt and it is not responsible for it. Clearly, it is not\u00a0social spending that has increased our deficits. The bank bailouts did that. These\u00a0banks are the same financial institutions that amassed fortunes by the grace of\u00a0securitization. This credit explosion was intended to \u2018anesthetize\u2019 a European\u00a0population whose income was inversely proportional to the productivity of their\u00a0businesses. And this was done in an environment where we were encouraged to use\u00a0credit so that we could have the illusion of stability in our standard of living.\u00a0Europeans, do you really want this debt? Are you even aware that this debate on\u00a0austerity is the modern version of class struggle?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Order on Amazon.fr here!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Excerpted from the book preface generously written by Christine Kerdellant,\u00a0Assistant Managing Editor of \u2018L’Express\u2019, Managing Editor of \u2018L’Expansion\u2019: \u2018\u2019 The \u2018doctrine-slayer\u2019 Michel Santi is not an economist like all the others. It starts\u00a0with his career. Unlike his colleagues, he has not learned life from textbooks and\u00a0econometric models. He has not worn out his eyes staring…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13518,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13536","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n