What Is Austerity?
Austerity is an economic system that's all the rage in Europe right now. It consists of making the working class suffer for the excesses of the rich. As an economic theory it is stupid.
Austerity is like shooting yourself in the foot to cure the flu. The pain will certainly distract you from the flu symptoms, but your feet have nothing to do with the disease and shooting off a couple of toes won't help any.
The logic of austerity is to drive millions of workers out of jobs and then take away their unemployment insurance. This terrifies everyone who still has a job into making do on diets of cold beans and moldy bread thus teaching several generations of the working class to expect nothing more out of life than bitter hardship. This makes for a much more obsequious and cheaper labor force for the wealthy to exploit.
Why Do Politicians Like Austerity?
Mostly because the wealthy pay them to like it. Liberals believe the hardship of austerity will force more voters to oppose the party of Conservative aristocrats. Conservative politicians believe driving millions into homelessness will disenfranchise them, reducing the votes for the Liberal party.
Does It Work?
As an economic theory, no. Austerity has never recovered a struggling economy.
As a political theory the results are mixed. The austerity of Herbert Hoover elected the liberal FDR. However the austerity of the Wiemar Republic caused the election of a conservative Adolph Hitler. Then there was austerity program the Bourbon monarchy imposed on late 18th century France that caused the working class to gather up the aristocrats and cut off their heads.
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| Madame La Guillotine answers austerity. |
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