But it is also a dangerous idea because the way austerity is being represented by both politicians and the media—as the payback for something called the “sovereign debt crisis,” supposedly brought on by states that apparently “spent too much”—is a quite fundamental misrepresentation of the facts. These problems, including the crisis in the bond markets, started with the banks and will end with the banks. The current mess is not a sovereign debt crisis generated by excessive spending for anyone except the Greeks. For everyone else, the problem is the banks that sovereigns have to take responsibility for, especially in the Eurozone. That we call it a “sovereign debt crisis” suggests a very interesting politics of “bait and switch” at play.

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 33