Austerity means that people is [sic] expulsed of their homes. Austerity means that the social services don’t work anymore. Austerity means that public schools have not the elements, the means to develop their activity. Austerity means that the countries have not sovereignty anymore, and we became a colony of the financial powers and a colony of Germany. Austerity probably means the end of democracy. I think if we don’t have democratic control of economy, we don’t have democracy. It’s impossible to separate economy and democracy, in my opinion.
– Pablo Iglesias, leader of Podemos, Spain’s grassroots anti-austerity movement
Austerity is a lie. It is a cruel economic policy that starves economies, puts people out of work, privatizes public services, closes public facilities, eliminates benefits for the needy, and crushes governments with unsustainable debt. And as Iglesias says above, austerity diminishes democracy because the banks hold the economic power– not the people and the governments they elected.
Greece has been suffering under austerity imposed by the European banks since 2010. Instead of growing the Greek economy, austerity has starved it.
Does this sound familiar? Arizonans should pay close attention to the Greek financial crisis because Governor Doug Ducey is leading us down the same road to ruin.