Wednesday, February 27, 2013

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.

Barkley Rosser

3 comments:

Happenings said...

great post! My friend and I decided to set up our own economics blog trying to promote current affairs to the younger generation, and phrase it in a light which seems more understandable and interesting to engage in! We would really appreciate it if you could take the time to check out our blog http://knowthehappenings.blogspot.co.uk/ and promote it! Thanks :D
Happenings

Rob from VA said...

Part of the problem is that many people don't get the difference between the debt and the deficit.

-Rob

hapa said...

it's quite intuitive to think that if central people are incessantly worried about something, it must be getting worse, or at least not getting better. the only way that isn't a reasonable assumption is if the central people are batsh*t crazy.