I searched online for a definition of austerity. These are the two top hits.
What Is Austerity?
The term austerity refers to a set of economic policies that a government implements in order to control public sector debt. Governments put austerity measures in place when their public debt is so large that the risk of default or the inability to service the required payments on its obligations becomes a real possibility.
Investopedia
Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both.[1][2][3] There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spending, raising taxes while cutting spending, and lower taxes and lower government spending.[4] Austerity measures are often used by governments that find it difficult to borrow or meet their existing obligations to pay back loans. The measures are meant to reduce the budget deficit by bringing government revenues closer to expenditures. Proponents of these measures state that this reduces the amount of borrowing required and may also demonstrate a government's fiscal discipline to creditors and credit rating agencies and make borrowing easier and cheaper as a result.
Wikipedia
The UK Government Treasury Dept laid out plans and justification for austerity as follows
‘By reducing the deficit (the gap between what we spend and what we raise in taxes), we will put the public finances on a sustainable path again and help achieve balanced economic growth - helping keep interest payments lower for families, businesses and the taxpayer - meaning more jobs and greater prosperity.’
This is the 11th installment of the series. If the reader has been paying attention and understands the logic behind the explanations given, it is obvious how deep the deceit, or incompetence, is embedded in the establishment.
It is also obvious how the framing utilised, defines the concepts. One door to perception is closed, allowing only a limited view.
Logic calls-out the lie of currency-issuing Governments requiring to borrow currency. It also debunks the necessity for taxpayers to raise taxes to ‘put the public finances on a sustainable path’. Yet, this is a Government document. It is obviously political choice dictating the necessity of austerity. The obvious question is ‘To what purpose is this being driven? We should look at the outcomes to assert the intent perhaps.
Health spending cuts, part of the UK austerity program, have caused tens of thousands of deaths according to the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank and the British Medical Journal. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. The lack of investment in public services disproportionately affects the most vulnerable members of society. The standard of living for the entire community is diminished. It is difficult to measure the impact empirically, much of the damage is emotional. Some context can be given through examination of health data, educational attainment and unemployment statistics.
The issue, of course, is that, for a currency issuing Government, affordability is not applicable to its ability to provide or improve the standard of living or of public services. The deficit here, is in political will. Every homeless person sleeping on the streets at night, is a political decision. Every park bench that sits with broken slats for months is a political decision. Every patient lying, suffering in an ambulance or on a trolley in a hospital corridor because there are no available beds, is a political decision. The £s are available to repair these societal problems.
Austerity is another facet of the ‘scarcity’ fallacy. The lie of unaffordability renders the government fiscal strength, impotent, despite being the most powerful actor in the hierarchy. When the Government cannot fulfill its proper function, the effect is amplified as it travels down the hierarchy.
Underfunded councils cut budgets but leave it to head teachers to decide where the axe will fall. Head teachers focus on doing what they can with limited resources, but understaffing means that the buck stops with individual teachers and the pupils. Disruption in the class due to anti-social, disruptive behaviour, clearing classrooms and locking down corridors, on a daily basis, consumes the teaching time, affects teachers mental health and reduces the attainment of all the students.
This disruptive behaviour, itself, is a symptom of the homelife of these children, where parents, working increasingly high hours to pay the bills, just can’t invest enough time in socialising their children. This isn’t solely a problem of lower income households. Many parents struggle to hold on to a life-style they’ve built for themselves and don’t want to lose.
Austerity is forced on the EU nations by the ECB fiscal policies. The individual nations have no real way to fight back against it. This results in countries in the South of Europe which produce less and import more being limited in their ability to invest in their economies. High unemployment is the most obvious outcome.
In the UK, there is no excuse for austerity. The Government has the currency issuing powers to ease suffering in the community. Current policy seems to have forgotten that the prime reason for Government is to provision society. We need to remind our politicians of this fact.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=48062
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=47987
https://www.ippr.org/files/2019-06/public-health-and-prevention-june19.pdf