Fans of the Clash must feel nostalgic watching events unfold in London and other English cities, where economic austerity (starve the poor) and rioting are back in style. The New Yorker quotes a Labour Party official who warned last fall that cuts to public and social services were a recipe for chaos:

These unpalatable and unnecessary cuts will be disastrous for our community. The Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives risk throwing us back to the 1980s, when the frustration and anger that flowed from squandered talent and relentless poverty led to social unrest.

I guess Prime Minister David Cameron, who was vacationing at a villa in Tuscany, thought such warnings were a lot of rot.

Cameron’s counterparts in America no doubt feel the same way about warnings from those who think impending large-scale spending cuts will have dire social consequences. Riots in America? Don’t be ridiculous.