Today's news August 2, 2016: Spending, Russia, and the Hillary-devil

Bloomberg:

Government Spending Makes a Comeback While Austerity Starts to Fade

You have to love that title. "Government spending makes a comeback" is almost as absorbing as "skirt lengths shrink".

But on to the actual story:

Was Larry Summers right after all?

Around the world, governments are planning fresh spending to boost growth and support wages, heeding the advice of the Harvard University economist and others who have argued that economies need the jolt as society ages and productivity sags. That’s signaling the ascendancy of energizers like Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and the firing of austerity advocates such as former U.K. Chancellor George Osborne.

The shift away from budget rigor and reliance on monetary policy has been subtle and isn’t universal.  

So while countries like Canada and South Korea are among those rolling out fiscal stimulus, others such as Germany are still holding firm. Borrowing heavily to support growth in the euro area is still out of favor.

Nevertheless, the global mood music now is different from most of the period since the last financial crisis. Instead of the doctrine of belt-tightening and spending cuts, today’s political narrative talks about higher-quality jobs, investment, or the dangers of inequality. In few economies is this more obvious than in America. Where once the government shut down during a spat over spending, now neither candidate in the U.S. presidential election is talking much about the deficit.

First, "neither candidate in the U.S. presidential election"? Let us throw out the misconception there are only two parties in the U.S. That lie might sell to the intellectual elite in New York, but the rest of the country is looking for solutions outside of the status quo. There are Libertarians and the Green Party.

Back on topic, this is just politicians looking for any kind of life boat in this economic storm, any excuse to spend so they can say to constituents, "See? I did something!" Of course, that is when they aren't just outright lying and saying the economy is just fine.

The problem with this is that "spending" isn't a solution. The U.S. government could spend trillions of dollars on Q-tips, but would that improve the economy by trillions of dollars? HOW we spend counts too.

Back to the usual political bull...

CNN:

Russia continues to shadow Trump

Donald Trump's Russia problem isn't going away. 

In the past week, the Republican presidential nominee has been pilloried for his comments expressing openness to Russia's annexation of Crimea, has called on the Russian government to share emails it possibly hacked from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and drawn rebukes from critics who say he's soft on a traditional US adversary.

Really CNN? Beating this dead horse while still ignoring Hillary's sell-out to the Russians? It is real hard to take a news source seriously when they only cover one side of the story.

On the other hand...

The Daily Mail:

Trump goes all-in on bashing Hillary 

as he says Bernie Sanders 'made a deal with the devil' by endorsing her

Donald Trump called his Democratic rival 'the devil' on Monday in a high-profile escalation of his campaign rhetoric – at precisely the moment he needed to change the subject. 

Facing a four-day-long scandal over his criticism of the father of a Muslim soldier who died in combat, the Republican presidential nominee shifted gears. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Trump told an overflow crowd at a high school in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 'made a deal with the devil' when he endorsed Clinton at last week's Democratic National Convention. 

'She's the devil!' he added.

I have a confession to make: I love the British Media. They have elevated "yellow journalism" to a fine art. They took what I would consider a "throwaway line" by Trump and elevated it to a major attack of Clinton.

Ok, Mrs. Clinton, what is your defense? You can answer after your head finishes spinning...

(hat tip to WiffleGif for the gif)