The ultimate aim of austerity is precisely the restoration of trust – among northern Europeans that the money transferred to troubled economies will not be squandered, and among the peoples affected by painful spending cuts that their efforts are recognized and supported. Speaking from the heartland of the troubled South, I can attest to the fact that the need for austerity has been the leitmotif of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government, a course that gained explicit popular support in the recent elections.