Only the policy shift saved us from certain disaster, teaching us once again the lesson that we have learned several times in the past: growth led by consumption cannot be sustainable in Israel. The Americans, on the other hand, are building on that alone to revive their economy.
Both their monetary and their fiscal policy are expansionary – the former by rapid interest – rate reduction and the latter by tax reduction – in order to stimulate growth through an increase in private consumption. If as a result there is a rise in the balance-of-payments deficit, so be it.