Re:UK austerity has inflicted 'great misery' on citizens, UN...
by repolfx on Saturday November 17, 2018 @01:29PM
(#18476698)
Austerity increases economic growth. Government spending isn't "growth" because it's funded by taxation - unless it's funded by borrowing, in which case it's only a temporary growth spike that must be offset by contraction later, as tax revenues are diverted into repayments and interest. In the long run all growth comes from the private sector.
In other words you're saying the exact opposite of what conventional economics says here - massive levels of borrow and spend is exactly why the Greek economy is so bad, and austerity on an equally massive scale is the only long term solution. When the Greek state is a smaller proportion of the economy, actual growth can occur.
In your analogy, it only pushed the cliff further away. The cliff is still there, it's still as steep and still as high and we will still, inevitably, fall off it and suffer the consequences.
"We" (I'm Greek) as in those of us who haven't yet crashed- haven't yet been rendered homeless, or forced to live hand-to-mouth, supported by soup kitchens and community handouts and so on.