Martin Bashir, who now hosts a program on MSNBC, makes an excellent point on the failure of so-called austerity measures (greatly reduced government spending in the face of a falling economy) in the European countries where it’s been tried. As Bashir points out, Romney, Gingrich, and other Republicans keep accusing Obama of imitating Europe when in fact it’s the GOP that’s pushing the policies that have led to miserable results in Ireland, the UK, Spain, and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, I would add, the countries that maintain relatively good safety-net programs (what Republicans typically mean when they refer to European social programs, and which Obama has unfortunately not really advocated) are doing better than their neighbors.

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