Ezra Klein posts a graph. "Some countries, like Italy, are trying to consolidate their budgets primarily through revenue increases. Others, like Spain and Greece, seem to be relying far more heavily on spending cuts:"
He points out that austerity doesn't seem to be helping as these measures have been tried for a while and the economy hasn't improved. Krugman and others point out this should be proof that austerity isn't the solution, but rather more stimulus is. It seems pretty obvious that laying off tons of public employees isn't going to help unemployment. But of course the right is moving the goal posts yet again...
"Recently, by contrast, a few conservatives have started arguing that it’s not austerity per se that’s the problem — it’s just the type of austerity. In the National Review, Veronique de Rugy argues that many European countries are relying too heavily on tax increases to rein in their deficits. Per the OECD chart above, this especially describes Austria, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands. She argues, instead, that spending cuts combined with more stimulus from the central bank is the way to go."
More here, Yes, there’s been austerity in Europe.
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