ROBERT REICH DEBUNKS REPUBLICAN DEFICIT HAWKS

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it looks like congress is heading into another big brawl over the federal

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budget deficit and national debt and the debt ceiling and deficit hawks are going

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to be waving scary numbers don't be fooled here are the three basic

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principles you need to know first deficit and debt numbers are meaningless

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on their own they have to be viewed as a percent of the national economy that

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ratio is critical as long as the yearly deficit continues to drop as a percent

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of the national economy as it's been doing for several years now we can more

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easily pay what we owe second American leads to run larger deficits when lots

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of people are unemployed or underemployed and they still are today

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at millions who remain too discouraged to look for jobs have dropped out of the

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workforce altogether and millions more are in part-time jobs and need full-time

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work as we've known for years in every economic downturn and in every

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struggling recovery more government spending

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helps create jobs teachers firefighters police officers social workers also

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people to rebuild roads and bridges and parks and those jobs and that spending

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multipliers to the economy doing the opposite

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cutting back spending a lot of people are still out of work as congress has

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done with the sequester as much of Europe is done

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causes economies to slow or even shrink which makes the deficit larger in

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proportion this is why austerity economics can be a recipe for disaster

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as it's been in Greece creditors and institutions worried about Greece's debt

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forced it to cut spending the spending cuts led to a huge economic recession

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which reduced tax revenues and made the debt crisis there even worse there in

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finally deficit spending on investments like education infrastructure is

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different

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than other forms of spending because this spending investment spending bills

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productivity and future economic growth is like a family borrowing money to send

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a kid to college respond to business if the likely return on the investment

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exceeds the borrowing costs it should be done keep these three principles in mind

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and you won't be fooled by scare tactics of the deficit hawks and you'll

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understand why we have to end the sequester but more people to work and

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increase rather than decrease spending on vital public investments like

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education and infrastructure

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Republicans are already talking about holding Social Security and Medicare "hostage"

Dear Friend,

Looks like a chaotic Congress is barreling toward another big brawl over the federal budget deficit, the national debt, and the debt ceiling—on a crash course for early November, when it must raise our nation's debt limit.^1,2

And Republicans are already talking about holding Social Security and Medicare "hostage" during negotiations—hell-bent on getting cuts in exchange for a debt ceiling hike.³

Please watch and share my latest MoveOn video—Austerity 101—to learn three basic principles you need to know so you won't be fooled by deficit hawks waving scary numbers.

Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew asked whether our nation would "muster the political will to avoid the self-inflicted wounds that come from a political stalemate."⁴ 

It's a fair question. And there's only one economically sound answer: We've got to. Congress must end the sequester, put more people to work, and increase our nation's investment in sectors like education and infrastructure.

Help make sure your friends and neighbors also get the facts they need to make their voices heard, by watching and sharing Austerity 101right now.

Thanks for all you do.

–Robert Reich

Sources:

1. "Congress faces looming deadlines amid chaos of House speaker election," CBS News, October 8, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=307806&id=133733-19913724-5vKZ3Ax&t=4 

2. "Treasury's Lew Says Congress Must Raise Debt Limit by Nov. 5," The Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=307807&id=133733-19913724-5vKZ3Ax&t=6 

3. "Senate Republicans decide on their debt ceiling hostages: Social Security and Medicare," Daily Kos, October 13, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=307822&id=133733-19913724-5vKZ3Ax&t=7

4. "US Treasury Secretary Blames Congress for Debt Limit Delays," ABC News, October 8, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=307808&id=133733-19913724-5vKZ3Ax&t=8

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The TRUTH will set you FREE.

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