Yet, even at this hour, leaders on both sides of the Atlantic seem determined to handcuff fiscal policies — the main tools that can increase jobs, consumer demand and economic growth — with an unquestioning devotion to rigid austerity.Too often lost in all of this is that as the stimulus began to wind down we entered a period of anti-stimulus. The federal government joined state and local governments in being a drag on growth. And the beatings will continue.
