Glossary
Austerity The belief that by cutting spending and raising taxes you can eliminate government borrowingCrowding out The belief that the public sector sucks up finances and workers that could otherwise go to businesses
Debt The total sum of all the borrowing taken by the state over the years
Deficit The overspend racked up by the government when it spends more than it receives in taxes
All of those being true of course.
“Austerity The belief that by cutting spending and raising taxes you can eliminate government borrowing”
No it’s not:
Firstly it’s not about eliminating borrowing: it’s about eliminating the _deficit_
Once you have corrected that, then it’s not a belief either.
Ah sorry – they are probably just being sloppy: by borrowing, they mean the flow not the stock.
Cutting spending relative to the (inflation+GDP growth) indicator doesn’t seem austere to me. UK govt is still spending more than it has ever had coming in.
I think some actual austerity is in order, then we can define it when we’ve lived through it.