Austerity Now!

Via Felix Salmon, a great read on the historical result of austerity movements:

David Leonhardt takes an important look at Germany, which you might think was benefiting, in some kind of zero-sum mathematics, from the pain of the European periphery. It isn’t: German GDP is still significantly lower than it was in the first quarter of 2008, while US GDP is now back above its pre-crisis levels. (Britain is doing significantly worse than either.)

“The historical lesson of postcrisis austerity movements,” writes Leonhardt, “is a rich one,” and also clear: they don’t work, even if they’re “morally satisfying.”

I was briefly concerned that Britain was showing some unexpected economic dynamism after mauling the public budget, disproving my prediction that pushing draconian cuts in the middle of a crushing recession is a universally stupid idea. I am happy to announce that the recent declining state of their economy has kindly consented to prove my point. If only it didn't involve the utterly unecessary suffering of millions of Britons.