Europe: The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

Paul Krugman quotes Martin Wolf (note: FT requires a free trial subscription, but you don't need it; the quote Krugman includes is sufficient for the point here):

Before now, I had never really understood how the 1930s could happen. Now I do. All one needs are fragile economies, a rigid monetary regime, intense debate over what must be done, widespread belief that suffering is good, myopic politicians, an inability to co-operate and failure to stay ahead of events.

Krugman then notes that the ECB has declined to take any action that might help matters, such as cutting interest rates; the result is an undesirable decrease in inflation. Krugman's conclusion:

I don’t think there’s any conceivable economic logic for the ECB’s decision. It can only, I think, be understood as some kind of refusal to admit, even implicitly, that past decisions were wrong.

Like Martin Wolf, I’m starting to see how the 1930s happened.