Economists from the Left and the Right Agree: Neither the U.S. Nor Europe Is Dealing With the Real Problem: Today, economists from both sides of the political spectrum said that no one in the U.S. or Europe are dealing with the real problems.

Niall Ferguson told Bloomberg that no one has the political will to deal with Greece, and so Europe might experience a crisis as big as the 2008 crash in the U.S.:

Paul Krugman argues ^[1] that austerity has failed in Europe, but that the European Central Bank ” “i[s] just not willing to face up to the failure of its fantasies” and to restructure Greek debt. (In more Europe news, Moody’s will issue a big credit warning on 14 of the UK’s 18 biggest banks ^[2] tomorrow).

And in the U.S., former Reagan head of the Office of Management and Budget – David Stockman – says ^[3] that both Democrats and Republicans are now advocating for default in America, since Democrats won’t compromise on spending and Republicans won’t compromise on taxes. (Before Dems label Stockman as a radical anti-taxer, remember that he recently said that the Bush tax cuts were “the biggest fiscal mistake in history”, and that extending them won’t stimulate the economy ^[4])

Video after the jump

Niall Ferguson, a history professor at Harvard University and a Bloomberg Television contributing editor, discusses the European sovereign-debt crisis. Ferguson speaks with Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.”

May 23 (Bloomberg)