“The government has created destitution,” says Barry Kushner, a Labour Party councilman in Liverpool and the cabinet member for children’s services. It’s about politics abandoning vulnerable people.”Conservative Party leaders say that austerity has been driven by nothing more grandiose than arithmetic. The United States has steadily reduced benefits since the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s. Britain rolled back its programs in the same era, under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher. Britain’s turn from its welfare state in the face of yawning budget deficits is a conspicuous indicator that the world has been refashioned by the crisis.

Source: New York Times May 28, 2018 04:52 UTC