Hey Europe... how's that austerity thing working out for you?

A collapse in household spending, exports and manufacturing sucked the life out of the euro zone's economy in the final months of 2011, the EU said on Tuesday, showing the scope of the downturn that looks set to become a fully fledged recession.

Oops.

Not that our weak recovery is anything to crow about by historical standards, but there's a giant stimulus vs. austerity experiment going on in the global economy right now, and it sure does look like John Maynard Keynes is winning.

And yet fiscal austerity is exactly what the deficit hawks on the Republican side are promising if they win the White House. Go figure.