GOP Misdirection

Claim­ing to be con­cerned about the deficit, the GOP pro­pos­es 61 bil­lion in cuts in this year’s spend­ing. These cuts will like­ly lead to the loss of one mil­lion jobs and slow the growth of the econ­o­my by 1.5 to 2 per­cent­age points in the sec­ond and third quar­ters of 2011.

There are two things that are absolute­ly nec­es­sary for there to be any hope of a bal­anced bud­get. One of those is a strong econ­o­my. In the over­all scheme of the US bud­get deficit, sav­ing $61 bil­lion this year is noth­ing. Risk­ing a strong eco­nom­ic recov­ery is a lot.

The Repub­li­cans either do not real­ly care about the deficit, or they sim­ply do not under­stand the sit­u­a­tion. The ques­tion is, is the GOP mis­di­rect­ing us or themselves?