"Fauxsterity” (faux + austerity) is a term to describe a “fake’ austerity. In a federal budget deal signed into law in August 2011, cuts in the federal budget were claimed, but some observers pointed out that the “cuts” were really reductions to automatic increases to the baseline budget.

The term “fauxsterity” has been cited in print on March 1, 2011, on May 10, 2011, and as the headline of a widely cited blog article on August 4, 2011.

A similar term is “fauxterity.”


Ace of Spades HQ
Hundreds Of Billions In Waste And Duplication Found In Federal Budget The Democrats Swear Can’t Be Touched Without Killing People Or Something
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COMMENTS
Fauxsterity. 
It’s our only hope.
Posted by: garrett at March 01, 2011 12:06 PM

Firedoglake
Being A Democrat – You’re Doing It Wrong
By: Eli Tuesday May 10, 2011 6:01 pm
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I wonder if he’ll be forced to run under the banner of the “New York For Cuomo” party in 2014, or if reverse-Robin-Hood fauxsterity will be the new Democratic normal by then.
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COMMENTS
Jim White
May 10th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Fauxsterity!
Awesome word, El

StockTwits
estill01
I do expect markets to react very negatively on Monday though. #G20 #fauxsterity $$
Jun. 27 at 7:31 PM • via Twitter

Topsy
theschnack: Dueling fauxsterity measures, debating whether to hike spending $1.7 or $2 Trillion by 2020? http://t.co/teCb3ie
5 days ago 1 similar tweet Highly Influential retweet

Michelle Malkin
Fauxsterity Measures: US Sees Largest One-Day Debt Bump in History
By Doug Powers • August 4, 2011 12:25 PM
The age of austerity is upon us, except the pitch for this particular brand of “fiscal responsibility” comes across more more like an ad for a sale at a furniture store: “The more you spend the more you save!”