United States of Austerity?

I recently came across this article as I was making my internet news rounds this morning. I believe it is essential to get your news from a wide range of sources and media, even if the people putting out the story/editorial run counter to your beliefs. At the risk of being preachy I’m only going to add that it is a great failure when an individual believes that his or her perspective is the only right one.

Anyway, I believe this article is ghastly. Aside from the fact that is it is tragically confusing the Catholic faith with economic conservatism, the article raises the specter that is haunting Europe, the US and the rest of the Western world at the moment(no, not communism): austerity measures.

On the surface, excessive austerity is deceptively logical. It makes for a government to cut programs and other public funding it is in too much debt. After all, what do each of us do individually when our expenses exceed our earnings? We cut back. But it is not that simple when the whole picture is taken into account on a national level.

The greatest government expenditures like healthcare programs, relief to the poor and education are too essential to our society to just cut away. Too many people are riding on the success of these programs. Since our society has become so used to their benefits, we cannot cut into them too much and still expect an acceptable economic recovery. Austerity hurts the very people government is supposed to protect, unless of course it is not, in fact, in place to help the common people.

History has taught us-namely the Great Depression-that hands off policies not only can cause problems, but they can also make things so much worse. And, I know, the Great Depression arose out of different circumstances than the current crisis we are in, but the need for the Keynesian way of thinking is self-evident. When the economy is really threatened, the government must become more involved and, yes even spend more. If people need a more current example, I point to Greece as proof of what happens to ordinary citizens when the government embarks on severe austerity.

Extreme austerity may look good on a balance sheet-but only after you remove the human element completely. What is government here for, human beings or raw economics?

Will austerity really make tomorrow better than today?