Coming to a Country Near You - Let a Dozen Latvias Bloom?
Mar 11 2010 Counterpunch
If you want to see the real consequence of smash mouth economics, forget about Greece and take a look at Latvia. Its 25.5 per cent plunge in GDP over just the past two years (almost 20 per cent in this past year alone) is already the worst two-year drop on record. The country recently reported a 12% decline in annual wages in Q4 2009 versus Q4 2008. The IMF projects another 4 percent drop this year, and predicts that the total loss of output from peak to bottom will reach 30 percent. To put this in a broader context, the magnitude of this loss of output in Latvia is more than that of the U.S. Great Depression downturn of 1929-1933.
http://www.counterpunch.org/auerback03092010.html
11
March
Coming to a Country Near You - Let a Dozen Latvias Bloom?
Mar 11 2010 Counterpunch
If you want to see the real consequence of smash mouth economics, forget about Greece and take a look at Latvia. Its 25.5 per cent plunge in GDP over just the past two years (almost 20 per cent in this past year alone) is already the worst two-year drop on record. The country recently reported a 12% decline in annual wages in Q4 2009 versus Q4 2008. The IMF projects another 4 percent drop this year, and predicts that the total loss of output from peak to bottom will reach 30 percent. To put this in a broader context, the magnitude of this loss of output in Latvia is more than that of the U.S. Great Depression downturn of 1929-1933.
http://www.counterpunch.org/auerback03092010.html