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Krugman doesn't claim that the U.S. has experienced (significant) austerity during the last couple of years, especially compared to Europe. See the chart, which shows that austerity peaked in summer 2011. [1]

[1] http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/the-obama-bounce...

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In talking of austerity Krugman neglects monetary policy[1] ("The key measure you want to look at is the ratio of debt to G.D.P." [2]), yet that chart you reference is inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars. That is to say, it is an apples to oranges comparison if we are going to talk of Krugman's version of austerity.

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2015/03/12/the-austerit...

[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/opinion/krugman-the-chutzp...

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