That's not the point. The point, for expert candidates who waved off, is getting parliamentary support and not turning a mere tool of MSzP's struggle for survival. (As for Gráf, he is really a desperation candidate: he doesn't havew much clue about or ambitions regarding things outside agriculture.)
those who try propose outrageous social cuts.
That's the only game in town, for the political elites, only the packaging differs. (Thougfh for Fidesz, that includes praising Obama's programme.) They are clueless and uninspired, even though there are domestic voices advocating deficit spending and calling austerity programmes an idiocy. A(t least a) Kirchner would be needed but there aint'.
The problem this is supposed to solve is of course a "recreation of trust on the markets", by complying with the IMF demand of keeping the budget deficit under 3% of GDP (a GDP which is now expected to fall 4-6% instead of 3.5). (This IMF demand is at least loosened relative to the original demand of near-zero deficits.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
They could always raise the marginal tax rate... Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
I mean, counter-cyclical, crisis-time deficit spending. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
The decision hinged on getting the endorsement of the liberal SzDSz's split leading body. It is unclear why half of them resisted for long: problems with the person of the candidate (he is a personal friend and former business partner of SzDSz's recently ousted chairman), credibility (SzDSz originally set Thursday night as a deadline for MSzP, then insisted on an expert government), wanting new elections, or something else.
At any rate, while the liberals' leading body voted 7-5 in favour of Bajnai at the end, SzDSz's parliamentary faction gave a much more reassuring 13-4 approval. If not too many Socialists rebel against the neoliberal saviour, that will be enough. So Gyurcsány presented him in Parliament this morning.
The neoliberal saviour did not offer much new specifics about his programme, but he is playing hardball:
