Pain Now, or Pain Later?

One's as bad as the other. Martin Wolf explains:

Premature fiscal tightening is, warns experience, as big a danger as delayed tightening would be. There are no certainties here. The world economy - or at least that of the advanced countries - remains disturbingly fragile. Only those who believe the economy is a morality play, in which those they deem wicked should suffer punishment, would enjoy that painful result.

Martin Wolf charts