Depends on your view point

As a cover story for the slashing of all kinds of social safety nets and support for those least fortunate members of society it’s worked like a dream.

As an optimal policy for reducing annual deficits and our overall national debt it’s hard to judge. A lot of economists argued that in 2010, just after the GFC, fiscal stimulus was needed to kick start the economy not a rapid reduction in government spend. But its much harder to prove the case for or against austerity as the counterfactual is unobservable.

Posted By: Under soil heating, Oct 26, 08:47:40