Secretary Clinton to Europe: send yourselves down the drain!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised eurozone governments for taking crippling austerity measures and encouraged them to do more. From Clinton calls on Europe to stem debt crisis AFP 09/27/2011

Clinton, in rare public comments about economic matters, said at a joint news conference with Portas that they had discussed the economic challenges facing Portugal and Europe.

"The Portuguese people and the government of Portugal have demonstrated impressive resolve in putting aside political differences to implement difficult austerity measures that are helping to stabilize the Portuguese economy, but also to set it up for long-term economic success," she said.

"Other countries and governments are still working to take such paths, and we expect European leaders to continue to ensure that the response to this crisis is strong, flexible, and most importantly, effective."

Clinton also acknowledged that the United States faces "a lot of the same challenges."

"We strongly support the common-sense effective efforts that we see being taken here under President (Barack) Obama and in Europe by various leaders," she said.

At least it's not hypocrisy. We in the United States are wrecking our own economy with misbegotten austerity policies in the middle of a depression, too. By partisan consensus.

Tags: austerity economics, hillary clinton