Mark WeisbrotFolha de São Paulo (Brasil), 15 de fevereiro, 2012Em inglês | em espanhol

Mark WeisbrotFolha de São Paulo (Brazil), February 15, 2012 En Español | Em Português

Promoting fears about the budget deficit is a major industry in Washington. The central theme is usually that we have out of control spending which will make us just like Greece in only a few short years. The policy take away from this story is that we have to cut Social Security and Medicare, and the sooner the better. This is just the idea put forth by Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) in a recent piece that appeared on The Hill's Congress Blog.

Everything in this picture is wrong. The basic story of out-of-control deficits as an ongoing problem is nonsense. While people may have complained about the deficits in the Bush presidency, the debt-to-GDP ratio was actually falling by the end of his administration and was projected to continue to fall for the foreseeable future, even without the ending of the Bush tax cuts.

The factor that changed this picture was the economic downturn that followed the collapse of the housing bubble. The projections for deficits soared before President Obama even took office; the people who want to blame an Obama Administration spending spree for the deficit are missing the mark.

Alexander Main es Director de Política Internacional del Centro de Investigación en Economía y Política (CEPR por sus siglos en inglés), una organización sin fines de lucro con sede en Washington, DC.

Deborah James tiene más de veinte años de pericia trabajando en temas de comercio y gobernanza democrática global. En CEPR, se dedica principalmente a analizar y monitorear las políticas  de la Organización Mundial del Comercio, el Fondo Monetario Internacional, y Estados Unidos hacia América Latina.

Mark WeisbrotThe Guardian Unlimited, February 13, 2012

Dean Baker
Truthout, February 13, 2012