The slump had been created by fiscal extravagance, they insisted, and therefore could be cured only by fiscal austerity. And not any old austerity: it was spending on the poor, not the rich, that had to be cut, because such spending was the real cause of the trouble.
一旦焦头烂额的政治精英获得了喘息之机，他们就开始编制阻挠一切后续财政刺激的故事。衰退是因为财政挥霍造成的，他们说，因此只能通过财政紧缩治愈。并且不是旧式紧缩：是穷人而非富人的支出必须削减，因为穷人的支出是真正的麻烦之源。