Prof Barkley Rosser at Econospeak also asks questions on the freaking out over the fiscal deficit numbers:
Only 6% Of Public Knows Deficit Is Declining
Yes, here we go again, massive public ignorance post # I forget how many. This has been floating around out there for awhile but was on Rachel Maddow last night, and here is a link with suitable discussion of relevant facts from Dave Johnson, perhaps important as this silly sequester is about to land on us supposedly driven by the overwhelming need to get the deficit under control,http://blog.ourfuture.org/20130226/deficit-is-falling-dramatically-but-only-6-know-that. As it is, apparently 62% think it is rising, while 28% think it is constant.
Among things that the public is wrong about, this one sticks out for being so far off from the facts. And as is noted, not only is the deficit declining, but it is doing so at a very dramatic rate. Without doing anything we should be able to stabilize the debt/GDP ratio within about two to three years, although to maintain that down the road, further adjustments would need to be made. Being an austerian is one thing, but being completely out of touch with reality is quite another.
