A populist IMF?
Last night I read an article from the current issue of the Atlantic Monthly that is getting a TON of mentions in the print and on-line news and opinion communities. It is entitled The Quiet Coup and is written by Simon Johnson. One reason that the article is getting so much attention is that Johnson was once the chief economist for the International Monetary Fund and in the article he makes a case for a populist approach to our current economic situation. Because of how traditionally harsh restrictions required to receive IMF support have negatively affected the poor in those countries receiving IMF support, one usually does not say “IMF” and “populist” in the same breath. But Johnson makes the argument that if the US were an annonymous case for insolvency presented to the IMF for their assistance the IMF would not hesitate to urge that banks be nationalized and a taxpayer-centric approach for restructuring the banks be taken.