{"id":2335,"date":"2014-10-10T13:16:19","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T18:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/?p=2335"},"modified":"2014-10-10T13:18:48","modified_gmt":"2014-10-10T18:18:48","slug":"the-deficit-is-down-and-nobody-knows-or-cares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/the-deficit-is-down-and-nobody-knows-or-cares\/","title":{"rendered":"The Deficit Is Down, and Nobody Knows or Cares"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Professor Krugman the other day<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The CBO tells us that the federal deficit is way down \u2014 under 3 percent of GDP. And Jared Bernstein<\/a> notes that Obama seems to get no credit.<\/p>\n

You may ask, what did you expect? But the truth is that a few years ago many pundits claimed that Obama would reap big political rewards by being the grownup, the responsible guy who Did What Had To Be Done. Worse, some reports<\/a> said that the White House political staff believed this.<\/p>\n

It was, of course, nonsense on multiple levels. While pundits may like to script out elaborate psychodramas<\/a> about voter perceptions, real perceptions bear no relationship to their scripts \u2014 in fact, a majority think the deficit has gone up on Obama\u2019s watch<\/a>, while only a small minority know that it\u2019s down.<\/p>\n

And the deficit scolds themselves are unappeasable<\/a> \u2014 nothing that doesn\u2019t involve severely damage Social Security and\/or Medicare will satisfy them. Why, it\u2019s almost as if shredding the safety net, not reducing the deficit, was their real goal.<\/p>\n

Deficit obsession has been immensely destructive as an economic matter. But it has also involved major political malpractice.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

See also:<\/p>\n

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