Politicians, Not Public, to Blame for Debt Crisis

By David Paul Kuhn
NYT

Americans are reportedly childish about the debt crisis. The public says the budget deficit is a serious issue. So serious that Americans will let other people sacrifice. Rich people. We know the enemy of U.S. debt, and it's us. You, dear reader, are framed as a hypocrite. But is that true?

Last week's Washington Post carried a familiar headline: "Poll Shows Americans oppose entitlement cuts to deal with debt problem." Bloomberg News led a December article: "Americans want Congress to bring down a federal budget deficit that many believe is ‘dangerously out of control,' only under two conditions: minimize the pain and make the rich pay." Politico recently reached for Shakespeare with its conclusion: "the fault lies not in our stars but in ourselves."

But the fault may actually lie in misreading the stars (data) and how our political stars (lawmakers and pundits) misread us. Americans appear willing to make hard choices, according to a landmark but largely unnoticed study. Given the chance, the public cuts much of the deficit and saves Social Security.

The conventional wisdom is wrong not because the evidence is wrong. Polls capture a gap between how seriously Americans view the debt problem and how seriously they take it. The right questions were asked. But they were asked in the wrong way.

(More here.)