Cutting argument against austerit-attack against the old and the poor

Who will be the last to suffer for the mistake of austerity? - Political News | Irish & International Politics | The Irish Times - Tue, Aug 13, 2013: "Cutting the incomes of the poorest people is indecent. It is particularly stupid when children are overrepresented in poor households, meaning the long-term social and economic costs will be all the greater. But even leaving aside considerations of basic decency, it is an exercise in bone-headed futility, like generals throwing kids and the elderly on to the frontlines in a war that is already lost. It is not fiscal responsibility, but social and economic recklessness. We’ve had zombie banks and zombie politics and now we have a zombie idea, a policy based on calculations admitted to be wrong. Are we really telling people to go cold and go hungry because somebody couldn’t do the maths?"