The Washington Post Is Panicked, Again!!!!!!
OPS_admin | Dec 16, 2009 | Comments 0
Dean Baker
The Washington Post is widely known for giving shrill warnings about the deficit danger, but this one is really over the top. It is literally titled: “the coming debt panic.” The piece tells readers of the urgency of reining in the debt, telling readers that: “failing to do so will lower the national standard of living.”
Sorry folks, this is not true. To push its deficit reduction position, the Post is doing what folks in Washington call “dissembling.” They have another word for it everywhere else. Standard economic models do show that deficits can slow economic growth by crowding out investment, they do not show that this impact will be large enough to actually lead to declining standards of living, or at least not any time soon.
The editorial also has the gall to emphasize the problem by telling readers: “consider: In the space of a single fiscal year, 2009, the debt soared from 41 percent of the gross domestic product to 53 percent.” This should have readers have everywhere setting their newspapers and computers on fire.
Full Story Beat the Press Archive | The American Prospect.
Filed Under: Media
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If we don't change our ways soon...
A new report by the Royal Society, chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston warns that world population must be stabilized and consumption in wealthy nations must be reduced or the entire planet is in big trouble. As the report reads: "The number of people living on the planet has never been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption... or we can choose to do nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future."This is the same warning that President Jimmy Carter gave Americans back in the 1970's - but it was ignored when Ronald Reagan came to power with a "more positive" message basically telling Americans we can do whatever we want. And then after 9/11 - Bush told us all we should go shopping and consume ever more.And now with corporations calling the shots in Washington - long-term sustainability of the planet takes a back seat to short-term profits. If we don't change our ways soon - and embrace clean, alternative energy and educate women around the plant - then we all could be headed for a rough century.-Thom(Is there any chance we will learn in time? Tell us here.) -
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