Duping America

The mantra of the Republicans these days, which they repeat incessantly, is that the budget deficit of the federal government is out of control and growing rapidly. They says that more budget cuts must be made to bring the budget deficit down. Is this true? NO!

The truth is that the budget deficit was out of control in the Bush administration -- due to tax cuts for the rich (including lowering the capital gains tax), two unpaid-for wars, and an increasing military budget. But since President Obama has entered office the budget has been significantly cut -- and the budget deficit has been reduced. The deficit has not only been reduced, but even if no more cuts are made it will continue to go down in the coming years.

The sad part is that most Americans have bought into the Republican lie. As the chart above shows (compiled from a Bloomberg News poll), about 62% of the general public thinks the budget deficit is getting larger and another 28% believe the budget is staying the same. Only 6% of the public knows and understands the truth -- that the budget deficit is going down. The Republicans have successfully duped (with the help of the mainstream media) about 94% of Americans.

NOTE -- The national debt is still growing, since there is still a budget deficit. But that debt growth has also been slowed (since the budget deficit is shrinking), and will continue to slow. More budget cuts will not help though, since that would just slow economic growth and cost jobs. What is needed to start to bring the national debt down is robust job creation and more government revenues -- and stopping the growth in military spending certainly wouldn't hurt.