Political Dupery and Consequential Austerity: a participation sport?

Defining the popular term austerity: the managing response to the known long-term cascading unintended consequences of politico policy.

It’s a known-known that first stage economic consequences, the short term effects thereof, match politico time horizons i.e. the next election. Second, third, and so on economic consequences of politico policy yield long-term cascading unintended consequences, much of which are unfunded politico promises, ending in a reversal of the “promise”. The action phase of reversing the unfunded promises being “austerity“.

Assume for a moment that the anti-austerity mantra within Greece is basically the public's reaction to politicos having put them [the public at large] in the current situation. That is, the public was duped.

Further, a new set of politicos can easily draw upon the mantra that the public was duped and that somehow, and in some way, the public should not have to pay for such dupery.

OK. Someone else is at fault, responsibility is transferred, and someone else should have to pay the price.

However, the dupery of politico policy yielding positive first stage economic consequences are in fact benefits accruing to certain individuals and groups. That the politico, benefited individuals and benefiting groups believe the dupery is transferred to a third party [taxpayer]. Stated alternatively, the benefiting individuals and groups participate in the dupery in that they happily welcome the benefits and think someone else will pay the price of dupery.

Going back to the Greek public’s reaction to austerity, let us examine a counter factual. Assume for a moment that Greece was still on the upward slope of an accumulating debt spiral. That the accumulating debt spiral was still funding an extremely liberal early retirement, fat public sector pensions, bloated government with fat pay, government owned enterprises producing non-competitive items with workers garnering fat pay, etc., etc. Would we hear calls of dupery?

The benefiting groups were not duped. The debt spiral and the false benefits thrown off by the spiral became a "participation sport". Any dupery is that the benefiting groups thought they had transferred dupery, when in fact, all parties were duped for the exception of the politico.