Ecomonic Austurity Measures Work : Europeans Not All Onboard

The media in this country doesn't have any incentive to tell the truth about our economic predicament. They believe this would derail the liberal Democrat movement to socialize the social structure by driving down people dream for prosperity, widening the gap between those that have and those that don't, the agenda of all socialist Democrats.

Did you ever wonder why this administration has not done anything about the 24 million that are unemployed, the 40 million that under employed and the 50 million that are on food stamps? One in 6 among us is are either unemployed, under employed or poor. Why is that in the greatest country on earth?

Socializing society would doom individual freedom and eliminate private property which in turn would mean our Constitution would become irreverent. Another dream of the progressive socialist liberal Democrats.

Why has something that is so obvious so hard to understand by the voters? Who are the voters that don't care what happens to themselves or their families?

Most European Countries Haven't Implemented Austerity Measures
Source: Matthew Melchiorre, "The True Story of European Austerity Cutting Taxes and Spending Leads to Renewed Growth," Competitive Enterprise Institute, June 26, 2013.
July 15, 2013

European governments that have cut both spending and taxes as part of their austerity programs have higher rates of economic growth than their neighbors. Then why do we hear lamentations from the news media and politicians about "savage" budget cuts leading Europe to economic ruin? Because they are looking at the data in the wrong way, says Matthew Melchiorre, the 2012-2013 Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Many analyses cited in the U.S. news media select a base year for all countries from which to measure changes in spending, taxation and growth, which is usually 2007 or 2008.

• This methodology is imprecise because not all European countries have implemented austerity programs at the same time.
• Therefore, for many countries, measurements of austerity capture the time before they began making budget cuts.

Austerity in Europe takes many different forms. While countries label their policies with the common term "austerity," their actions are far from similar.

• Only four countries in Europe have engaged in what can truly be considered austerity -- cutting both spending and taxes -- Bulgaria, Ireland, Latvia and Lithuania.
• Instead, more countries have followed the opposite path -- increasing both spending and taxes. This does not qualify as austerity in any reasonable sense of the term.
• Businesses bear all the burden of fiscal consolidation while governments bear none.
• Contrary to popular belief, austerity is largely absent from Western Europe.

Much of the news media, unfortunately, tells a different narrative -- that shrinking the size of government has led to economic stagnation. Also fallacious are claims that significant cuts have occurred all across Europe. Rather than cutting out the heart of Europe's economies, downsizing their public sectors is cutting out the rot. And there are only a handful of European countries that have had the courage to do this.

European countries have reacted in different ways to the economic crisis that began in 2008. Those that have reduced the economic footprint of their public sectors have more prosperous economies. Curbing inefficiencies and getting government out of the way of businesses and entrepreneurs have allowed for greater productive economic activity to flourish. That is the real story of "austerity" in Europe.