So, if Obama is re-elected there will be riots in the streets, no bread in the supermarket and no gas in Fonzi's motorcycle to jump that .....

It is hard to see how this is solved. The number of Americans who are now beneficiaries of government largess is at an all time high. Food stamps, Pell Grants, and so many more programs are now being used by more Americans than ever. Some of this can be linked to the recession, but the growth in this trend goes back many years. Austerity can be painful, but the alternative is far worse. Higher tax rates can not solve this either. We need a politician who can make tough decisions, and not worry about the political food fight that will emerge.

Austerity doesn't work. It's how the 1% (or the .0001%) pay for the collapse of the house of cards THEY CREATED while not only protecting but ever increasing their own wealth. It's vacuum-up economics. It starts a death spiral: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/official-keynes-112244405.html Also, read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. It explains the real purpose of austerity, and it's not to create general prosperity...debt leads to the imposition of harsh austerity through the IMF, which leads to more debt and the fire sale of vital public resources (privatization=private profit, not public well-being). It drives down wages, busts unions, and destroys democracy for profit. Austerity doesn't work because it isn't designed to do so. What will work is ending the corporate "capture" of government, so that we can have fair, progressive taxes instead of rampant tax avoidance by the wealthy and their corporations, end absurd tax subsidies to highly profitable and destructive industries, and invest instead in real prosperity. Real prosperity comes from a highly educated and innovative population that is healthy, investments in 21st century infrastructure, research, and an economy transformed by green technology for a sustainable future.

It's too bad the Republican "leadership" wasn't capable of leading on the debt deal. As the long NY Times review of the debt talks concluded ( http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/magazine/obama-vs-boehner-who-killed-the-debt-deal.html ), Boehner was too weak to stand up to the extremists (particularly Cantor) in his own party: "[I]n the end, while both leaders had profound reservations about a grand bargain that would threaten their parties' priorities, what's undeniable, despite all the furious efforts to peddle a different story, is that Obama managed to persuade his closest allies to sign off on what he wanted them to do, and Boehner didn't, or couldn't. While Democratic leaders were willing to swallow either a deal with more revenue or a deal with less, Boehner's theoretical counteroffer, which probably reflected what he would have done if empowered to act alone, never even got a hearing from his leadership team." Now the Republican extremists are left with their weak candidate, Romney, to try to lead their cause. With Romney and people like Sununu preaching austerity and promoting policies to help their wealthy friends, their recipe for victory is not likely to hold much appeal for middle-of-the-road voters.

Talk about awkward, Sununu jumps with both feet onto the "budget cuts cure recessions" wagon, just as most of Europe is jumping off. Germany is still holding out, but of Europe has figured out that government austerity is making their problems worse not better. It's Republicans did the same.

Yet another 'I don't know how to solve the problem but whatever the I guy I don't like suggests I'm against it' article.

Linking Pell Grants to assist qualifying individuals to attend college with the other programs you reference is a very poor choice, as the money for these grants have been reduced for the past several years and eligibility is even narrower. In addition to call food stamps "government largesse" when the increase in demand is among the working poor, those that work but whose work does not pay enough to allow them to access the necessities every person needs for survival, indicates a mindset that blames the victim. My question to you in response to your assertion that higher taxes won't solve the problem is this: Will you accept that higher taxes can be or need to be a part of the solution? By the way, how has the austerity only measures worked so far in Greece, Italy and Spain? Not so well from the news that comes out and their shrinking economies.

If people continue to want more from government--and they do, despite cries of "get government off our backs"--then they must be willing to pay for it. How many of the conservatives who want to shrink the major entitlement programs--Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid--are willing to see their draw on these "social welfare" programs reduced when comes time for their presumed eligibility. It's popular to blame government when, at times like now, it is forced to fill the gaps created by a diminished economy. Almost all Americans have a hand in the government's largesse. Many just don't want to pay for their share. Too many conservatives have their piece of the pie and now prefer to close off the line.

Brilliant - hurray for John Sununu being politically courageous to stand up and say "time for US austerity." Over the past four years, our government has borrowed and spent at a frantic pace. This extra spending has hidden what would otherwise have been a major recession. Politicians on both sides agree to wink at the deficit and keep taxes low and spending high, because it helps them get re-elected! A full 8% of the U.S. economy this year was "fake" meaning that it would not have existed without federal over-spending that was financed by fresh borrowing. What is the result? While it took decades for federal debt to reach 60% of GDP in 2008; we have now zoomed up to 100% in just four years! I heard someone say "look at the pain in Europe - austerity does not work!" This is wrong-headed as Mr. Sununu points out. While it may be painful for an addict to stop using drugs, it is still very much necessary for future health, and the sooner done the better! Now an exercise for you, gentle reader: which government's budget had a higher deficit as a percent of spending - 1929 Weimar Germany or 2012 United States? You can guess... What is broken about our system of government is that Congress can borrow unlimited amounts and thus take income away from future generations and spend it now for their own purposes. Since elected politicians always choose to defer painful decisions, this loophole will be the seed of our country's future bankruptcy (see Argentina, Greece). Therefore, the most effective step we can take - regardless of party affiliation - is to make a Balanced Budget Amendment that forces Congress to be disciplined and make tough choices. We can reasonably choose to be a lean country with low taxes or a Nordic welfare state with high taxes and we will survive, but we CANNOT survive if we keep borrowing from tomorrow to spend more today.

Google - Modern Monetary Theory and re-writew