Austerity

‘Give us austerity and we’ll turn to fascism.’
Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis (9/24/2023) the Guardian
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) and what they did to countries in the Global South—which is, of course, exactly the same thing bankers are starting to do at home now—is just a modern version of this old story. That is, creditors and governments saying you’re having a financial crisis, you owe money, obviously you must pay your debts. There’s no question of forgiving debts. Therefore, people are going to have to stop eating so much. The money has to be extracted from the most vulnerable members of society. Lives are destroyed; millions of people die. People would never dream of supporting such a policy until you say, “Well, they have to pay their debts.”[16] David Graeber (from wikipedia)

In responding to austerity, ever more people find their way to a critical understanding of capitalism... That system brought the 2007/2008 crisis. It then delivered trillions in government bailouts to fund its survival. And now austerity serves to shift the costs of crisis and bailouts onto the general public. Austerity is today's hot issue not only because it affects practically everyone, but also because it touches the foundations of economy and society. Richard D Wolff

AMY GOODMAN: What do you think we need to change?

MANFRED MAX-NEEF: Oh, almost everything. We are simply, dramatically stupid. We act systematically against the evidences we have. We know everything that should not be done. There’s nobody that doesn’t know that. Particularly the big politicians know exactly what should not be done. Yet they do it. After what happened since October 2008, I mean, elementally, you would think what? That now they’re going to change. I mean, they see that the model is not working. The model is even poisonous, you know? Dramatically poisonous. And what is the result, and what happened in the last meeting of the European Union? They are more fundamentalist now than before. So, the only thing you know that you can be sure of, that the next crisis is coming, and it will be twice as much as this one. And for that one, there won’t be enough money anymore. So that will be it. And that is the consequence of systematical human stupidity.

(from Democracy Now: 9/22/2010)

The dysfunctional debt ceiling and why we should kill it: 5 questions answered (7/28/2019)

Democrats, Debt and Double Standards (2/11/2019)

Who’s Afraid of the Budget Deficit? (1/3/2019)

Hard-Money Men, Suddenly Going Soft (12/20/2018)

Fraudulence of the Fiscal Hawks (2/8/2018)

Blame Austerity, Not Obama, For Slow Economic Recovery (8/11/2016)

Austerity is Killing the World Economy (9/11/2015)

Severe Austerity Measures are Pushing Countries to the Brink of Fascism (12/12/2014)

Austerity is Crap (3/29/2014)

Your Children and GrandChildren Never Will Know What They Have Lost (12/25/2013)

Faces of Austerity: How Budget Cuts have made us sicker, poorer, and less secure (11/2013)

How the Case for Austerity Has Crumbled, Paul Krugman (6/6/2013)

Eternal austerity makes complete sense – if you're rich: Mark Blyth (11/2013)

European austerity programs have dismantled the mechanisms that reduce inequality and enable equitable growth. (9/11/2013)

How The Case For Austerity Has Crumbled (6/2013)

The Grad Student Who Debunked Austerity (3/2013)

The "Truman Show" Economy (6/1/2013)

Old-Fashioned Austerity (5/18/2013)

The Smith/Klein/Kalecki Theory of Austerity: Paul Krugman (5/16/2013)

The Perils of 2012: When Austerity Bites Back (Joseph Stiglitz) 1/13/2012.

Austerity For Dummies (1/9/2012)

Protest Changes the Austerity Debate (11/2/2011)

Republican austerity chokes public spending for infrastructure, education, healthcare and will ultimately further weaken the economy.

It is now obvious that we have neglected infrastructure until it is rapidly becoming unsafe, we are ignoring climate damage, putting a generation of students into heavy debt, degrading higher education, and privatizing many parts of the economy for the enrichment of an irresponsible elite. Although the 'middle class' is sinking, right wing media convinces them that Republicans are helping them when the opposite is true.

FDR realized that an insecure people is prone to Fascism, and he proposed a Second Bill of Rights to guard against it. The Constitutions of Germany and Japan incorporated the Second Bill of Rights and they are proving to be more stable. The US, unfortunately, did not.

Links

Mythfighter

US Uncut

About the Concord Coalition.

Video

We're Not Broke

Bibliography

Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea: Mark Blyth (review)

The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire: Neil Irwin

The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America: by David A. Stockman

End This Depression Now: Paul Krugman