Slaying the Deficit Bogeyman

Now that Congress has started bipartisan negotiations to reach a budget deal and avert another government shutdown in January or February, it’s worth knocking down a few myths about the U.S. government that continue to distort the political debate.

If you listen to people on Capitol Hill, especially Republicans but also some Democratic budget hawks, you might be led to believe that the United States is plagued by chronic budget deficits, which threaten the prosperity of the country. Not true at all.

And if you listen to Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing luminaries, you will get the impression that federal spending, particularly discretionary spending on the pork-barrel projects beloved of congressmen, is mushrooming out of control. Not true either.

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