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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Austerity very much does work!!! It's been done several times over the years in multiple countries, but it needs to be done right. The USA is not doing anything of the sort. It's paying the rich with money from the poor. A Reverse Robin Hood.

Austerity measures work to right the national ship when economists guide the process, usually under pressure from the World Bank/IMF or in the case of Greece or other such EU countries, the European Union.

Don't confuse "austerity measures" as announced by various governments, when really they're anything but, and real economic processes to get debt under control, corruption reduced and government finances healthy again. It's VERY painful to live in a country that is undergoing an austerity practice. The average individual will not notice any gains, just pain. The nation will benefit after several years, and the gains will be mathematically measurable, but it's a process that can take a long time.

Maybe you were thinking about autarky? Yeah, that one never works. We're a global economy, for better or worse.
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Hold the phone there.  Greece's recovery wasn't entirely "austerity" - a big part of it was tax enforcement, creating non-political tax agency and going after rampant tax evasion with digital tax filing and stricter oversight, which greatly improved revenue.  They also received billions in bailouts from the EU.

They solved some problems with hiring and firing and labor practices, and consolidated fragmented pension and retirement systems.  They invested in broadband and other things to spur business and help markets, along with incentivizing Greeks abroad to return to stem the brain drain.  They also did a lot to try and spur more tourism and other things.

The problem is that Republicans are anti-government-investment, and refuse to even look at doing anything on the revenue side other than to cut taxes, especially for the richest.  They are not pragmatic or realistic and are openly hostile to education and educated, higher-earning professionals in the workforce, they are hostile to foreigners, which risks putting a damper on tourism, and so on.[/quote]

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