Garnaut’s statements are part of a wider campaign by economic commentators and media outlets for brutal austerity measures against the working class.

More... (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/garn-o05.shtml)

Coming to a media outlet in your face on November 7.

It ain't gonna be a debate, it's gonna be an onslaught, but it will be like the 'health care debate' as one after the other naysayer genuflects, rises, and soberly admonishes us of the necessity of it all. When all is said and done Bernie Sanders and Paul Krugman will be on board.

Yeah, I've been telling everyone I know that it is coming. They mostly just shrug and ask how bad it can get. That is the question.

This is one of my favorite income inequality charts relating to this country (published in 2011 I believe - fairly recent nos.). I'd love to see calculations for the world as a whole if anyone has seen such a compilation ... it is apparent to me that in this country at least there are very few folks holding most of the gold. There is no need for austerity - there is a need for massive redistribution.

https://motherjones.com/files/images/ineqbubbles_040512.gif

A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph

Yeah, I've been telling everyone I know that it is coming. They mostly just shrug and ask how bad it can get. That is the question.
people think my pessimism is a "shtick", i think people confuse optimism for advertising.

i wonder, if economics is the "dismal science" why does it always see the world with rose-colored glasses?

That is a great graphic! I will use this.

But austerity isn't about wealth or who has it. It is about what the bottom 90% is going to have to live with. We got no power, so we just have to take it. If the ones with power decide that we have to live with less, so they can live excessively, we got no recourse...

people think my pessimism is a "shtick", i think people confuse optimism for advertising.

i wonder, if economics is the "dismal science" why does it always see the world with rose-colored glasses?

That's right. everything with bourgeois economists is spin. They cannot talk about the real, material processes and outcomes, because that way leads to Marxism! So they prevaricate, spin, strip off their clothes, and offer lap-dances, but reality? Oh hell no!