Monday, 17 November 2008

Telegraph directly misquotes IMF

Predictably enough, Downing St. and the media have begun on the "IMF endorsed tax cuts" line. The Telegraph is either running out of space (ink has to be imported, I supppose) or it can't be bothered to read the IMF comments and report them accurately and fully. Or perhaps Mandy is at work. So, for the benefit of those who can read - here we go again:


QUESTIONER: What countries do you think should have it?

MR. STRAUSS-KAHN: As I've just told you, I'm not going to make an announcement in place of the countries, but I want to answer your question candidly. Everywhere where it's possible. Everywhere were you have some room concerning debt sustainability. Everywhere where inflation is low enough not to risk having some kind of return of inflation, this effort has to be made.

And how was this reported by the Telegraph? - The newspaper also quotes Strauss Kahn, but somehow the message comes across differently:


"It's time for co-ordination. I welcome the emphasis on fiscal stimulus, which I believe is now essential to restore global growth," he said after the summit. When asked which countries should implement the tax cuts, he added: "Everywhere".






1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, we all do selective quotation, don't we? I'm amused at your choice not to put a link in to the actual text. He said:

"Inflation is on average close to zero in the world today. There is some explaining that we may have a risk of deflation. So there's no risk to use the fiscal policy. If there has ever been a time in modern economic history when fiscal policy and a fiscal stimulus should be used, it's now."

"we say a coordinated action plan is necessary and more coordinated means that if the governments are moving at the same time the more effective it will be. That's on the analysis side."

For those people who aren't interested in your selective quotations look here