Austerity Is Exacerbating Unemployment

Drum, The Madness of Austerity

Private sector employment is up 6.8 percent. Public sector employment is down 3.4 percent. And that's during a period when population grew 2.3 percent. On a per capita basis, government employment has declined more than 5 percent since 2009, and it's still declining. This is the price of austerity.
If public sector employment had been growing normally during this period, we'd have about a million more jobs than we do now and the unemployment rate would probably be below 6 percent. We are our own worst enemies.

I've been worried about the deficits and the debt since I was old enough to worry about policy. But you've got to be a real zealot to keep push for austerity during the Great Recession.