But its defenders are willing to claim victory on the basis of the weakest possible evidence: the economy is no longer collapsing, so austerity must be working! But if that is the benchmark, we could say that jumping off a cliff is the best way to get down from a mountain; after all, the descent has been stopped.
紧缩失败了。但紧缩的辩护者仍要以极其脆弱的证据宣布胜利“经济不再崩溃，因此一定是紧缩见效了！但如果以此为准，我们可以说跳下悬崖是最好的下山方式；毕竟，下坡之势被止住了。