The graph does not show that the cuts have caused the damage, but that graph at least demonstrates that the political debate about spending cuts is not creating "confidence". For months, conservatives argued that they were not ignoring the jobs crisis by insisting on spending cuts because coming up with a plan to reduce the deficit would create confidence by proving that the Federal Goverment was starting to be fiscally responsible again. Now that they accomplished that goal, there is no evidence that investors are more likely to invest and create jobs. If the austerity measures have not created enough confidence to improve the job market, we have to wonder why we did it at all.
Of course, its never really about create jobs. It has always been about enacting the conservative agenda by claiming that everything they oppose is the cause of mass unemployment, conveniently ignoring the fact that the crisis was caused by irresponsibility in the private sector and massive amounts of bad consumer debt.