Opinions on austerity?

We never had full austerity because Osborne has cut taxes and delayed cuts in 2011-12. I'm not sure what "huge recession" you are talking about.



Keynesian economics have been out of touch with our understanding of economics for 30+ years. I do not take any non-New Keynesian economists/sources seriously because they are just wrong.



I have listened to Paul Krugman's podcast and his explanation of why austerity does not work seems to focus too much on the short term rather than the long term, in fact he never even talked about the long term. Krugman fallaciously points to countries such as Iceland and Ireland as an "example" of why austerity does not work despite both of these countries fully recovering and now growing at the fastest rates in Europe, compared to nations which issued a fiscal stimulus like Japan which Krugman advocates despite the fact that Japan at current levels looks ****ed in a decade.

Krugman focuses too much on the failures of austerity, like Greece, rather than even bothering studying why austerity is good, like in Central/Eastern Europe, especially UK, Ireland, Estonia and Poland. By no means am I of the same calibre on Economics like Krugman, but his tactics of pointing to failures and avoiding the successes are slimy.

That's despite the fact that most advocates of austerity don't even advocate what happened in Greece. Spending cuts should be done when the economy is growing. Not when it is stagnant or contracting. And they also must be done, keeping spending consistent or rising is equally terrible. Greece has firstly cut too slow in 2008/9/10 and when they realised they are ****ed they cut too fast in 2011/12/13. No logic applied.

And I use the term "austerity" very liberally, since UK's situation can hardly be labeled as such.

Yeah, because they never get things wrong...

And yet the Office of national statistics figures don't bear out any of that.

Oh yes well lets not listen to experts. Millionaires in parliament who personally benefit from austerity are much more trustworthy.

How have Cameron and Osbourne personally benefited from austerity?

Idealogically they have unnecessarily reduced the size of that stae. Most tory donations come from the financial sector which hugely benefits from austerity and not having to pay for c crisis they caused, they are both millionaires and the class politics of austerity increase the wealth divide and therefore the power of the rich over the poor.

So the closest you can get is the party they are a member of might be getting more donations?

Hardly the most direct benefit is it?

How about Ed Milliband then? Or Alex Salmond?

No, that was one of the reasons. Camerons family is extremely wealthy and have benefited from tax havens and other neoliberal policies. You asked how those two benefited from austerity in particular. As for Ed Milliband also benefits although to a lesser degree which is why i was skeptical of his austerity lite. If you think the damaging effect of austerity on economics and society is a good thing then you have different values to me.

Well I thought I'd ask about the two parliamentarians who created austerity. I didn't really ask about their families, but unless you can identify any tax havens that were created and used by them I don['t see the relavence really.

How does Ed personally benefit?

You're being very vague you know...

Many people here are saying it has benefited the economy which is untrue but I think the damaging effects it has had on the poor and society are equally important.

And you've said it caused a huge recession which is also untrue...

Ignoring the huge social and economic effects something you like to do, 2010 saw growth which Osbournes austerity budget choked off and caused a triple dip recession that has only returned to growth after austerity measures were halted in the middle of their term.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2015/apr/29/the-austerity-delusion - This article by Paul Krugman brilliantly explains this better than i could. If for some reason the place he wrote this degrades it then you can read his other articles or articles by other economists like Mark Blyth.

And you've said it caused a huge recession which is also untrue...

Another in depth study on austerity:
http://international.ucla.edu/media/files/Przeworski_Vreeland.pdf

There wasn't even a double dip recession let alone a triple dip...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_Kingdom

My apologies I should have said growth was decreased along with the many other harmful effects like widening of the wealth divide.

Yeah, quite different to a 'huge recession'.

Not that you have the counterfactual obviously...

Ignoring the huge social and economic effects something you like to do, 2010 saw growth which Osbournes austerity budget choked off and caused a triple dip recession that has only returned to growth after austerity measures were halted in the middle of their term.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2015/apr/29/the-austerity-delusion - This article by Paul Krugman brilliantly explains this better than i could. If for some reason the place he wrote this degrades it then you can read his other articles or articles by other economists like Mark Blyth.

The triple dip recession (which has been revised away) is a statistical fluke when you compare annual growth figures which are far more representative of the real picture (growth was 2.1%, 1.4%, 0.4% for the 2010-2012 period). It was also not broad given that the service sector continued to grow. Austerity has continued since 2012 but at a slower pace and backed by increased capital spending.

- Osbourne's austerity budget in 2010 did not cause the Q4 contraction, for one thing it only cut £6bn during that financial year (not close to affecting the economy as an amount).

https://theconversation.com/fact-check-has-austerity-held-back-economic-growth-40578 - Once again more evidence. The huge recession was caused by other right wing policies like unregulation of the banks. Either disprove the many negative effects of austerity i have mentioned or prove it has had a positive effect.