Merriam-Webster named Austerity "Word of the Year" in 2010

During a government session, a citizen in Romania horrified onlookers in the chambers screaming out about austerity while leaping off a balcony.  The young man apparently thought jumping face first from a one floor balcony would be the end, but it wasn't.  Witnesses were all aghast and the government speaker was in tears.  Now the man will have to deal with disfiguration since he probably won't be able to afford the kind of medical care he needs to repair his face. 

Man throws himself from balcony in protest of Romanian austerity

For those unfamiliar with the term austerity as defined by Wikipedia:

In economics, austerity is a policy of deficit-cutting, lower spending, and a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided. Austerity policies are often used by governments to reduce their deficit spending while sometimes coupled with increases in taxes to pay back creditors to reduce debt. In 2010 Austerity was named as the word of the year by Merrian-Webster.

Here are some interesting comments on the video:

People are loosing it while the royals are having lavish weddings remember the school board shooting last week in USA the mans wife lost here job economic terrorism is more real than Islamic

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All those evils behind the scene should jump from at least 100th stories building balconies to kill themselves instantly. They enslave us, slaughter us, poison us, and are going to kill us all. They are the evils against humanity and should be in prison for their crimes. May God bless Us all and We as humanity, is on the winning side against these evils. Light will defeat darkness!! Peace and Love for all of you!!

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This guy was at the end of his rope, like the guy in the States who started shooting at a council meeting. I mean, what the f**k are these people supposed to do when they get screwed by their government? I don't condone it, but I can see where they're coming from. Sad.

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Politicians really are heartless assholes. Most of them just sat there like nothing happened. It's all about the cash in their pockets, they couldn't give a shit about people struggling to get by with the bad economy.

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It's not just happening in Europe, its happening all over the world, these banks and multi government corporations are holding the people of the world to ransom, one day the people will stand up, when... i don't know, but i sure hope we aren't too late... soon enuf you wont be able to fart in public without getting a fine, and these criminals in the banking industry and our governments are getting away with far worse corruption and behind close door deals that we don't know about.

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BEFORE JUMPING, THE MAN SCREAMED, QUOTE ''AMERICA, U KILLED OUR CHILDREN FUTURE'' !!!

As trends researcher Gerald Celente often says, "when people have nothing to lose, they lose it."  Sadly, we'll probably be seeing more of this kind of stuff in the future.  In this video Celente discusses austerity and coming revolution.

According to Web of Debt author Ellen Brown in a piece Austerity Fails in Euroland: Time for Some "Definict Easing", austerity has already proven to be a failure in addressing economic woes:

The Greek bailout was supposed to be an isolated case, a test of the European Union's (EU) ability to quarantine an infected member, preventing it from spreading "debt contagion."

 But that was before Ireland failed. Ireland was the poster child for how to conduct a successful austerity program. Unlike the Greeks, who were considered profligate spendthrifts, the Irish did everything their creditors asked. The people sacrificed to pay for the excesses of their banks, but still the effort failed. Ireland was the second domino to fall to an International Monetary Fund (IMF)/EU bailout. On December 17, Moody's Investors Service rewarded it for voting to accept the "rescue" package with a five-notch credit downgrade, from AA2 to BAA1, with warnings that further downgrades could follow.

Spain is rumored to be the next domino poised to fall. If it falls, it could bring down the EU.

Austerity Fails in Euroland: Time for Some "Deficit Easing" - Ellen Brown