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Not that long ago, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, austerity fever was sweeping across the western world. Budgets had to be balanced. Deficits narrowed. Debt mountains, cut down to size. But like a pair of 1970's flares, all that seems to have slipped quietly out of fashion. In the UK, the opposition Labour party gained 40 per cent of the vote in last week's general election on the basis of a big-spending manifesto. And in the US, President Trump has announced a one trillion dollar programme to improve his country's infrastructure - roads, bridges, railways and water systems. US Economist Irwin Stelzer of the Hudson Institute says Governmental austerity has given way to big spending: (Photo: Big Spender cartoon. Credit: ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ News.)