Attacking the Treasury View, Again by Dean Baker

The IMF had become an unexpected opponent of fiscal austerity. Its research demolished the intellectual basis for the claim that fiscal contractions could be expansionary. It also showed that, at least in the short term, there was no basis for preferring spending cuts to tax increases to reach whatever deficit goal was set as a target.
...

Of course getting to full employment is the key question, but in principle if we get back to full employment we can hope to be able to restore the virtuous circle of the decades immediately following World War II, in which gains in productivity translated into gains in wages. This, in turn, led to increased consumption, spurring more investment, and, therefore, more productivity growth. It is important that the public understand that whether macroeconomic policy focuses on full employment or inflation-fighting, it is very much a class issue. Those placing the priority on inflation-fighting have decided to impose higher unemployment and lower wages on ordinary workers as the price of achieving their stated goal.