Austerity programs are sometimes very useful to adjust an economic situation. Perhaps
to cool an economy off if inflation takes over. There are also times after or during a
minor recession to adjust and reposition and economy for future growth.
Governing by austerity instead of reality is detrimental to the society as a whole. We see
some governments use austerity instead of raising the appropriate taxation levels to meet
the reality the society is facing. The end result, no infrastructure repairs and the cost is way
higher later. We don't pay our way and leave it to another generation. Even worse we
pretend we are living in a new reality and sooner or later there are too many problems and
not enough money to solve them. Yes we don't collect enough tax and we do things on the
cheap and it costs more to fix it.
The other insane way of life is to deny we have a problem and Greece is the largest example.
True Italy has more debt but the have more wealth. Greece has so many holidays and optional
holidays they rival ancient Rome that had something like 146 holidays, but of course slaves did
all the work anyway.
The other problem is we have austerity without an adjusted economy of scale. Now we have
nations lots of them Ireland, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, even Britain in financial
trouble. America is a mess, Canada is a disguised mess, even China is in trouble.
They were in trouble when governments and unregulated corporations were allowed to ply
unfounded unfettered capitalism and it resulted in the gold rush of greed for which none of them are
being held responsible for. Now there is severe austerity that effects the buying power of the
middle class and the poor but not the wealthy, nor the corporate or government actors who in
fact created the problem. In my view without ensuring that all do their part austerity translates into
regulated poverty and therefore is not in the best interest of society as a whole.
Taxation, programs and governance must reflect the reality of the society we live in.
