Forum Post: Re: The Mission Statement of the November 17th Rally - resist austerity? Why?

The organizers of the November 17th march end their rallying cry by asking protesters to:

"Resist austerity. Rebuild the economy. Reclaim our democracy."

Rebuilding the economy and reclaiming democracy are uncontroversial general ideas, although we need to discuss specifics about policy objectives to this end.

But why should we resist efforts to live within our means (austerity?) If we really want to rebuild the economy and restore our right to self-determination as citizens and residents of a democratic society, we need to ensure that people/corporations are paying their fair share for public goods. We also need to ensure that public goods can be paid for with the available assets at our disposal. Otherwise we're slaves to our creditors - non-democratic societies that we borrow from, and multinationals that hold their assets in tax havens.

Discuss/critique - I'd like to hear some justifications for the "resist austerity" rallying cry.