Austerity Debate Will Give Voters A Clear Choice

IBD Editorials ^ | May 11, 2012 | Editorial

[Kaslin]

Economy: We can see the wheels turning in Democratic strategists' heads: Brand the GOP as the "austerity" party and watch the public recoil. Just like what happened in France. Well, maybe not.

People get mad when you cut government spending. So don't cut government spending. Is that what Europe is telling us?

To the Obama administration and its defenders, it's the lesson they'd prefer to draw. For if the Continent's recent leftward lurch is a revolt against deficit cutting, the Democratic Party's failure to rein in spending becomes a political virtue. It's the Republicans who become the party of "austerity." Too bad for them.

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne makes the case this way: "Right now, it's conservatives who want to follow the Western European path of austerity that voters in France and Greece rejected last weekend. The Obama administration, by contrast, has chosen a distinctly American path that kept austerity at bay."

The not-so-subtle point here is that the GOP apes Europe while accusing the president of doing so. Obama, meanwhile, is following "a distinctly American path."

If out-of-control borrowing and spending are "distinctly American," maybe this American exceptionalism thing needs to be rethought.

Or maybe economist Paul Krugman, who rails that Washington isn't spending nearly enough, should replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill.

[andyk]

Very few of us understand what austerity is. I know I’ve never experienced it.

[GeronL]

How many of those countries actually cut any spending?

[andyk]

Wow, according to Wiki, austerity is just deficit cutting. That entry is wack. Would be nice to see an army of FReepers hitting the wiki. Deficit cutting is not austerity.

[andyk]

Okay, I added my edit to the wiki. See if you like it. :)

[Praxeologue]

dictionary.com defines "austere" as:

"Severe or strict in manner, attitude, or appearance: "an austere man with a puritanical outlook"."

Conservatives are permitting themselves to be railroaded by definitions again. The socialists stole "liberal" ninety years ago, which everywhere but in the U.S. still means smaller government and laissez-faire economics. The socialists adopted the word "progressive", which they formerly applied to the legalized theft called income tax, and now use as a catch-all self-description. "Liberal" and "progressive" are positive adjectives. "Liberal" and "progressive" is what conservatives are: small government optimists.

Now we have "austerity" which has a negative meaning in anyone's mind. Let the word stay in Europe with David Cameron. He is welcome to it. Conservatives, and all Americans, don't want "austerity" and should disown it at every turn.

Conservatives are against tax and spend, big government telling us what to do and the nanny state. These phrases connect with the electorate, not austerity.

[andyk]

The socialists stole "liberal" ninety years ago, which everywhere but in the U.S. still means smaller government and laissez-faire economics.

And that's why I have to refer to myself as a classical liberal.

[BeckB]

Their “austerity” included tax increases which always destroy economic growth.

[expat2]

The Brits had austerity after WWII. Churchill was dumped, and the socialists took over, creating misery everywhere. Google Stafford Cripps (Chancellor of the Exchequer) to see the face of austerity. It was years before kids tasted ice cream.

[GeronL]

wow.

They still think government spending is good for the economy?

“Adds to the GDP” my big toe.

[Praxeologue]

The Brits had austerity after WWII. Churchill was dumped, and the socialists took over, creating misery everywhere. Google Stafford Cripps (Chancellor of the Exchequer) to see the face of austerity.

Following your lead, I discover that Cripps and the Labour government invented "austerity" in the late 40s. In brief: raise taxes on the "rich", lower taxes on the "working man", ration everything, but increase spending on social programs. Sound familiar, as in Cameron and Sarkozy? Trust the socialists to foist a term and a practice that they invented upon dim-witted conservatives. No wonder the European MSM thinks in terms of an "austerity" meme. The socialists are laughing at us. Watch the term "austerity" wash up on our shores and get promoted by our MSM. Even Investors Business Daily seems to roll over for the left's terminology.

[expat2]

I believe that they also blocked movement of money out of the country, something which could happen again in the US and/or Europe in the not so distant future.