This is the so-called proof/evidence the author cites for approving Keynesian economics.
Seems to ME to be an exagerrated view of the approach. GDP is being used to "prove" the economy is better: a growing GDP, we are told, is proof of a better economy.
But the growth is solely due to government taking wealth away from the private sector!
Such type of growth isn't optimal or even desirable--it is anti-growth in the long run!
Look, why not just SHUT DOWN the private sector and allow the government to spend ALL the money, and MORE--print it up....as Bernanke has been doing....
Will we see prosperity? No.
The argument that Europe "has" tried austerity seems to be a bit ridiculous, too...Europe has only turned that way, and with fits and starts, after many more years of going down the path of socialism...America hasn't been as bad as Europe, though the Clown and his predecessors Nixon, Johnson, and FDR were trying mightily to shove us down that path.