When It Comes to the Deficit, Resolve Is Weak
By ALBERT R. HUNT
BLOOMBERG NEWS
WASHINGTON — The American comic strip Pogo once famously noted, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” This may be the most relevant characterization of the current fracas in Washington over the deficit.
Politicians of both parties have done a poor job of educating the public, and voters are sending conflicting, and in some cases, misguided, messages.
A Bloomberg National Poll published last week, in line with other surveys, is instructive. Americans consider the widening deficit and debt a big deal; they also reject most of the measures necessary to deal with the threat by warning against touching entitlements like Medicare and Social Security or popular discretionary spending programs. The public believes significant deficit reduction is possible without raising revenue, while also wanting to raise taxes on wealthier Americans.
“The public embraces sacrifice in theory, but not in practice,” said J. Ann Selzer, the Des Moines, Iowa, pollster who conducts the Bloomberg surveys. “The stalemate in Congress has a doppelganger in individual Americans’ minds. People really do not know what things cost and what cuts would have a significant effect on the deficit. They know only what they want.”
(More here.)
BLOOMBERG NEWS
WASHINGTON — The American comic strip Pogo once famously noted, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” This may be the most relevant characterization of the current fracas in Washington over the deficit.
Politicians of both parties have done a poor job of educating the public, and voters are sending conflicting, and in some cases, misguided, messages.
A Bloomberg National Poll published last week, in line with other surveys, is instructive. Americans consider the widening deficit and debt a big deal; they also reject most of the measures necessary to deal with the threat by warning against touching entitlements like Medicare and Social Security or popular discretionary spending programs. The public believes significant deficit reduction is possible without raising revenue, while also wanting to raise taxes on wealthier Americans.
“The public embraces sacrifice in theory, but not in practice,” said J. Ann Selzer, the Des Moines, Iowa, pollster who conducts the Bloomberg surveys. “The stalemate in Congress has a doppelganger in individual Americans’ minds. People really do not know what things cost and what cuts would have a significant effect on the deficit. They know only what they want.”
(More here.)
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