Ah, austerity. That magically simple formula that was going to take us back to morning in America. Comforting the comfortable, and afflicting the afflicted. It's always popular in this country, because we're a nation of riverboat gamblers, ready to take any amount of pain in return for the one-in-a-million chance of having it all. And, above all, it always works.
Um, except when it doesn't. Which is, um, always.
Which is probably why the current round of austerity was based on a great big fat whopping lie, ardently defended by some of those wonderful folks who brought you weapons of mass destruction. (You know, the ones we didn't find;-).)
But some of its ardent defenders are no longer defending it. And it's not exact setting the world on fire, either, unless by that you mean it's burning it down. Take a look at Spain, or Latvia, for example.
Don't count on it going away, however. Not anytime soon. Austerity, and its offspring, the sequester, is really here not to lift all boats, but only to lift 1% of them. The sequester, after all, is not only designed to cut spending, but revenues as well, by way of supporting tax cheats. And, faced with a chance to hold the Republicans' feet to the fire, Senate Democrats opt for the easy way out, thereby cementing the sequester in place. For now.
The fall of the austerian empire will not be complete, however, as long as income inequality is still as firmly entrenched as it is. As long as those on top have enough money to buy the system, they will keep on spending money to keep on buying it.
Progressive taxation is the welfare reform the rich and the rest of us need. Think about it. And then do something about it.
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