A lot of Keynesian economists are arguing that now is not the time for austerity. The government's current mission should be to lower employment even if it means higher deficits (and debt) _for now_. Once we are out of this slump, the argument is that most of the deficit will take care of itself (since some of the deficit is lower tax revenue because of unemployment + cost of automatic stabilizers such as unemployment benefits). We still need to fix the rest of the deficit/debt problem after the crisis, though.
The second important argument is that (again, right now), this emphasis on austerity is actively making things worse.
The second important argument is that (again, right now), this emphasis on austerity is actively making things worse.