The greatest problem we have is misinformation. People simply do not comprehend why and how the economic policies of the post-war era are imploding. This whole agenda of socialism has sold a Utopian idea that the State is there for the people yet it is run by lawyers following their own self-interest. The pensions created for those in government drive the cost of government up exponentially with time. The political forces blame the rich and this merely creates a class warfare with no resolution for the future. Even confiscating all the wealth of the so-called rich will not sustain the system. Consequently, we just have to crash and burn and start all over again.
He's right, misinformation is our greatest problem, I call it lying or being wilfully ignorant though and I'm especially pissed off when people have a rant about socialism and communism and don't even seem to be able to define our current system properly which is namely corporatism and has nothing to do with socialism or communism.
The so called right wing of the political compass are particularly guilty of this, it pisses me off and I'm an Anarchist/Libertarian!
austerity measures can often lead to deflation which is much harder to control then inflation. Deflation often will lead to much less economic activity which is bad for an economy.
The deflation/inflation argument that has been perpetuated by neo-keynesians has been argued to death on this board, check it out, deflation is a symptom of inflation and hyperinflation of the money supply, not an actual problem as economists like to pretend, deflation is what happens when an economy corrects itself, so basically it's like a doctor trying to put drugs into a patient that's healing naturally to begin with.