European "Austerity" or American "Job Growth"?

Liberals' idea of 'austerity' is raising taxes so that taxpayers are forced to tighten their belts while governments continue to expand theirs. Michael Barone explains why this European-style austerity hurts everyone, including governments:

Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University took a look at what "austerity" in Europe actually means.

What she found is that government spending has increased or not appreciably declined in Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. The only significant spending reductions are in Greece, where the bond market cut off funding. In the other countries, the big adjustment has been an increase in tax rates. European "austerity" is an attempt to reduce government budget deficits largely by increasing taxes and only to a small extent by reining in spending.

The debate before Americans today is which type of policy to pursue: European-style austerity or American-style job growth.