The world’s five biggest AAA-rated states are all at risk of soaring debt costs and will have to implement austerity plans that threaten “social cohesion”, according to a report on sovereign debt by Moody’s. The US rating agency said the US, the UK, Germany, France, and Spain are walking a tightrope as they try to bring public finances under control without nipping recovery in the bud. It warned of “substantial execution risk” in withdrawal of stimulus.
Here’s the sanitary definition of “austerity measure” from the Financial Times:
Austerity measure:
An official action taken by a government in order to reduce the amount of money that it spends or the amount that people spend. [1]
-Financial Times Lexicon