Some synonyms: Frugality. Leanness. Miserliness. Paltriness. Parsimoniousness. Scrimpiness. Self-denial. Unwastefulness. Voluntary poverty.
James K. Galbraith at The Nation: "The debt-limit agreement entrenches long-term austerity."
Barry Grey at the World Socialist Web Site: "Biden-McCarthy austerity debt ceiling bill moves to vote in Congress."
And so on, and so forth.
In what universe is keeping to the same idiotically bloated government spending/debt levels in 2024 as applied in 2023, growing them by 1% in 2025, and exempting military ("defense") spending even from those caps (3.3% increase in 2024) anything like "austerity?" Government spending (and borrowing) has grown MASSIVELY since 2019, and was already so galactically far beyond "austerity" levels as to make use of the term meaningless.
Not spending more than you take in -- which this "debt ceiling deal" doesn't even come close to accomplishing -- isn't "austerity."
The government stealing more than 25% of all wealth generated within its jurisdiction, then borrowing still more in the name of the victims, isn't "austerity."
The only "austerity" involved here is on the part of those victims, not of the government.
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