Indeed, the French vote, alongside elections in Greece in which voters abandoned pro-austerity parties in droves in favor of extremists, was a stark reminder that voters have no patience with forced economic sacrifice that isn’t paired with efforts to boost growth and create jobs. And here are three charts showing that the austerity policies adopted by European nations have certainly not delivered. The first, from the Financial Times’ Martin Wolf, shows that austerity goes hand in hand with a contracting economy:
SOURCE: CHARTS: Austerity In Europe Hasn’t Worked | ThinkProgress.