Conservatives and Republicans keep on arguing that budget cuts are the answer, without any tax increases, and that government spending is the villain.
Meanwhile, the British government of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has been promoting fiscal austerity, which has failed to help their economic situation. Unemployment has risen, and the budget cuts have not revived business confidence or encouraged more hiring, as people have less to spend as a result.
The British are suffering with a bad economy made far worse by spending cuts in the public sphere. All it has done is make for more future budget cuts as people cannot spend, and is leading toward a policy that did not work during the early years of the Great Depression, but only made it far worse.
Promoting fiscal austerity only will doom the British economy to a long period of no growth and worse economic conditions. Cutting government spending will only cause reduced demand and less tax revenue, and the British experience should be a warning sign to the American government and the American people.
Will we learn from past mistakes during the Great Depression, or will we again prove that we do not learn from the lessons of history?