The Meaning of "Austerity"

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES: http://ur1.ca/0balr

..."Austerity" is one of those Orwellian terms that has been injected into our political discourse precisely because it is a nice-sounding word for a very painful reality. "Austerity" implies discipline, self-restraint, even nobility. "Austerity" is prudent. "Austerity" is modest. "Austerity" is a virtue. It is an end in itself.

If the IMF or the European Central Bank come to the people of a collapsing European nation and tell them to sacrifice their pensions and their savings and their very standard of living all for a debt that their government has fraudulently racked up in their name, no one would go for it, and rightly so.

But tell those same people that they need to implement "austerity measures" in order to "get back on their feet" economically, and many will be willing to live in the harshest of conditions, content to put up with the dismantling of their nation itself in the vain hope that by giving more power to the international financial institutions they can somehow avoid economic collapse...

• Category

  Education

[dennismstamps]

Learn from our mistakes? Just what are the people supposed to do in order for this to take place?

[dennismstamps]

Wrong. There is not a single dollar spent by government that is spent with direct consent from the people. While the government is "elected", the system itself is broken because the politicians are controlled by corporations no matter who is voted in.

[zEr0bertinho]

Gotta do a special ops mission @ Bilderberg, if yaz knowz what I mean....

[Malang Sob]

Good stuff

[goldfingerly]

"Let them eat cake" ..........LOL.....Marie Antoinettte

[hugglescake]

The government by the people, for the people.

WE are the government. WE vote these schmucks into office. WE spend recklessly. WE are at fault. WE are myopic. There is no one to blame but ourselves. Pass the buck. Blah, blah, blah... There is nothing new under the sun. Will we learn by our mistakes? No. This isn't the first time something like this has happened and it will happen again.

[hotneo7]

You lack knowledge to make any comment. Austerity comes from the world governments bailout the banks, the taxpayers hold the toxic liabilities and in order to pay for it the government increases tax for the middle class and the fiscal cliff deal locked in permanently Bush tax cuts for the rich. Austerity does not stand by itself without the bailout that triggered it. You should do the homework yourself because you clearly don't know what you're talking about. You need to go back to school.

[allgoo19]

"DOJ just said..."

==

Definition of "Austerity" is not "Something that causes recession"

Still unanswered,

"People don't call bail out as a part of "austerity". If you think they do, show me the article you found it."

[hotneo7]

DOJ just said and with the SEC that they won't prosecute banks, they got their bailout and now they won't even get investigated for the potential to cause another recession. Not only did they get bailed out but a get out of jail free card. Haven't you read any news in the past month?