I had the occasion to re-read an article published by The American Prospect Magazine (March/April edition 1996, pages 54-59) and written by American institutional economist Lester Thurow – The Crusade That’s Killing Prosperity (reprinted December 19, 2001). It is a fine article about the way inflation-first monetary policy, which was one of the defining macroeconomic characteristics of the neo-liberal era (under the aegis of the NAIRU), deliberately drove unemployment and broader measures of labour wastage much higher than necessary and suppressed the capacity of those remaining in employment to enjoy wages growth in proportion to productivity growth. The article is prescient because it provides some good insights into what happens when policy makers deliberately create unemployment (via monetary and fiscal austerity). It allows one to see that the costs extend well beyond the unemployment that emerges fairly quickly. It also allows one to appreciate how austerity impacts across time and damages the prospects for generations. Each week new data comes out which confirms the view that fiscal austerity has failed. Yesterday, the data suggests that the policy failure in Europe has scaled new heights.