Austerity's Drawback

Though austerity, cutting spending and raising taxes, may be an absolute requirement over the long term, it is not without it's drawbacks in the short term.

To wit, austerity could prove self-defeating. For as any economics textbook will tell you, other things being equal, cutting government spending causes output to fall, tax revenues to decrease, and spending on benefits to increase. Almost invariably, the end result is slower growth and budget deficits.