Liquidationism therefore argues for an inevitability—the slump must happen—and also for intervention’s unintended consequences—if you get in the way of that inevitability you will end up making it worse. The consequence of this line of thinking is austerity—purging the system and cutting spending—which becomes the essence of recovery. Austerity may be painful, but it is unavoidable since undergoing such emetic periods is the essence of capitalism’s process of investment and discovery. There was, therefore, no alternative.

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 324