I second your idea: we should stop using the word ‘austerity’ and start using ‘thrift’ or ‘living within our means’
Note however that ‘austerity’ is anything but a pansy-ass term. It was deliberately chosen to indicate grinding hardship - but what we really need is a term redolent of responsibility.
I couldn’t agree more about the use of the word “austerity.” That has irked me since I first heard it ages ago. Since when is it “austere” to live within your means? Yet another case of libs controlling the language and the debate.