Steve's barking; Is the new Europeon mindset making recessions deeper.

All countries go through business cycles.
It seems to me that through out the 20th century the business cycle recessions in Europe were a lot less sever then those in the states. The recoveries may not have been as great but the people didn't suffer as much.How can I say that? Money, those who were unemployed had money. The money to purchase goods and services from business that were having slowdowns. Were did this money come from? Good unemployment insurance. Government sponsored pensions and health insurance giving the population more money in it's pockets.  Because of this, the Great Depression was so great in Europe.
Now the controllers of the European economies want to lesson the money in the people's hands, in the name of austerity. Europe trying to emulate the U.S. is creating real economic trouble for themselves. The central bankers must be crazy!