Austerity IIUC is more about reducing the deficit than reducing spending. Usually the way you achieve this is by reducing spending to reduce the deficit. But

Austerity IIUC is more about reducing the deficit than reducing spending. Usually the way you achieve this is by reducing spending to reduce the deficit. But you could also increase taxes. Government spending will eventually be paid. It's whether it gets by the people now, the people in the future, or the bagholders (bond holders when the government or currency collapses). Of course life expectancy is going to decline if you can't force your grandchildren to pay for your healthcare costs now. But it's not clear to me that's the most evil thing in the world. Back when most spending was infrastructure and growth was high, you could argue this would be around forever, and it should be financed to a large degree on future generations. But now that a huge percentage of spending is entitlements and growth has slowed, it's less clear.