Deficit Is Falling Dramatically But Only 6% Know That

Bar chart of deficit as % gdp since 2009 budget
Deficits not out of control, coming down
Compare to WWII
Already stable over next decade
Medicare costs already coming down – 500 bill figure
Decade to fix long-term debt situation, which is the only problem we have
So just repeal the sequester

Here is something you didn’t know: the deficit is falling at the fastest rate since the end of WWII. It is down 50% as a percent of GDP just since 2009. The deficit is already projected to be stable for a decade.

Here is a chart of the deficit as a percent of GDP:

(Sources:
Once again, because it might be hard to register, but this is a fact: Here is something you didn’t know: the deficit is falling at the fastest rate since the end of WWII. It is down 50% as a percent of GDP just since 2009. The deficit is already projected to be stable for a decade.

Propaganda And Its Policy Consequences

“Blowback” is a term that means propaganda you use against a target comes back and hurts you. Anti-government propaganda has convinced the public that “government takes money out of the economy” and “government is in the way of business.” Other propaganda has convinced people we have a deficit emergency. This propaganda came from billionaires and the corporations that mask them. They wanted to cut their taxes and get government rules out of their way. But now they’re killing the economy that laid their golden egg.

Here is something else you didn’t know: Medicare costs are already coming down – 500 bill figure

So we don’t have a “deficit emergency” or a “fiscal crisis” or an “out-of-control” deficit after all.

But we still have the “sequester” budget cuts starting Friday, and the consequences to our economy are really bad.

Jed Lewison at Daily Kos, 94 percent of Americans don’t know the budget deficit is getting smaller, points us to Steve Benen at the Maddow Blog, A well-kept fiscal secret,

A 62% majority believe the deficit is getting bigger, 28% believe the deficit is staying roughly the same, and only 6% believe the deficit is shrinking.

Here it is, louder: Only 6% believe the deficit is shrinking!

What does this say about our country’s information channels, when only 6% of the public knows that the deficit is shrinking?

Shrinking? Here is Steve again, A conversation-ending chart,

Now, I think it’s probably safe to say deficit hawks are no longer capable of embarrassment, so the chart’s impact is likely limited. That said, there’s a policy point to keep in mind: “Here’s a pretty important fact that virtually everyone in Washington seems oblivious to: The federal deficit has never fallen as fast as it’s falling now without a coincident recession.”

Got that? Every time the nation has reduced the deficit this much, this quickly, economic growth suffers to the point that the economy actually shrinks.

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