It's a bit like the Iraq war.

The analogy is striking. Untold mayhem and suffering unleashed with cascades of "unforeseeable consequences" (mostly foreseeable), because of a mistaken belief which didn't stand up to serious scrutiny : the existence of WMD.

"Growth through austerity", on the other hand, seems to be much more tenacious as a belief : it only took a few months to deflate the WMD myth, but the ECB are laying waste to one country after another, without comprehending the visible disproof of their doctrine.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}