The statisticians were right about the election. The scientists were right about the weather. And the economists are right about … the economy. 350 economists have signed a letter warning Congress, warning “too many in Washington are fixated on cutting public spending to balance the budget, not on how to put people back to work and get our economy going.

The term “fiscal cliff” is a one-sided propaganda phrase that misinforms and triggers public fear and anxiety. The fiscal cliff is not a “cliff” and the country isn’t going to fall off anything at the end of the year. Journalists: don’t help the misinformers — don’t say or write “fiscal cliff.” Congress: when people are [...]

A new advertising campaign from three major unions is targeting key congresspeople with a clear message: the way to reduce the deficit is by “creating jobs and growing our economy” not by “cutting programs that families rely on most.” The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) [...]

I joined Campaign for America’s Future’s Richard Eskow to talk about the “fiscal cliff” scare, austerity, Social Security, Medicare and how we WON the election so we really should be talking about jobs instead. This was a GREAT hour, and hold the information you need to arm yourself to win holiday-dinner conversations with your right-wing [...]

Originally published at Capital Gains and Games. The Dow Jones Industrials Average was in negative territory on Friday morning when congressional leaders emerged from their first fiscal cliff meeting at the White House. At that point the Dow was down 59 points. But based on the totally innocuous and meaningless statements from the leaders that [...]

For years now, various gangs of Senators – the Gang of 8, or 6, or 14 – have declared dire deficit emergencies and called for austerity: Cut public spending and cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits, they tell us. And, bizarrely, most of these gangs also call for reduced tax cuts for the rich.

The following was originally published in The Nation. With the election behind us, President Obama and the lame-duck Congress return to Washington to face a fiscal showdown, occasioned by automatic tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to kick in after the first of the year. Most economists, including the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, agree that [...]

The fight to head off a so-called “grand bargain” that would end up being a grand swindle of economic recovery and opportunity for working-class Americans gets kicked up another notch today when a group of 350 prominent economists and experts release a statement warning President Obama and Congress to turn away from the “obsessive concern [...]

They’re dashing through the corridors of power in Washington with appropriately grim expressions this week. Congressional leaders are talking about the upcoming ‘fiscal cliff,’ which journalists are dutifully describing as a “looming crisis.” In fact, if you do a Google News search for articles containing the words “fiscal cliff” and “looming” you’ll get 72,000 hits [...]

Anyone who has read The Shock Doctrine understands exactly what this “Fiscal Cliff” scare is. If you have already read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein you have probably been rolling your eyes at all this “Fiscal Cliff” scare talk. “Here they go again” you’re thinking… If you haven’t read the book, you should. You [...]