Austerity is dead, long live Austerity

Across the world, the economic policy of austerity is dead.

The IMF has pronounced job creation more important than debt reduction.

Abenomics has fundamentally changed the course of Japanese policy

The UK has started throwing money at the housing market.

China is heading towards stimulation of consumption, even Germany has endorsed the IMF view.

In the US, Austerity was preached, but never really practised.

So the economic policy of austerity has been abandoned as a failure. But no one really admits that. In fact, politicians keep on talking austerity.

They do so to avoid looking like they are navigating a U turn.

But also, leaders of the political right are keen to kill off a lot of schemes which they have an ideological objection to.

In an age of austerity, we just can't afford x, y and z.

So austerity, always a failure economically, dead as an intellectual idea, lives on; zombie like, as a political stick with which to beat the poor.

After all, in Britain, we can afford nuclear weapons, but not universal child benefit.

So much for tough decisions.