Is Europe Having Second Thoughts About the Pointless Pain Proselytizing of Neoliberal Austerity?

EUObserver:

On Thursday (14 October) in a speech… at an annual Brussels pow-wow of government ministers, journalists, businessmen and even nobility, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso marked a change in strategy, or at least in the rhetoric surrounding the bloc's policy response. "Are austerity cutbacks the right solution for Europe’s economic woes? …As you may have guessed, dear friends, the commission does not believe that cutbacks are the solution to Europe's challenges."

At the same conference, Poland's finance minister, Jan Rostowski, warned that "Cuts could -- and this really is true -- can make the recession worse." He described a "vicious cycle" wherein the imposition of austerity on a weak economy can suppress demand, which then inhibits companies' willingness to invest, which frightens other firms from investing and encourages households to save instead of spend. As the economy takes a nosedive, government revenues decline, expanding public debts, forcing further public-spending cutbacks.

It's not exactly a turning of the tide, but maybe it's a crack in the ice of the neoliberalism of the not very nice.