Besides, the problem is not the size of the deficit but the policy changes that the right wing can engineer by stoking fears about the disaster that deficits can create.The idea is that with the government facing seemingly unmanageable deficits, the public will be stampeded into a wholesale slashing of government spending.
As a result, regulatory policies that inconvenience the corporate sector as well as social programs that might benefit ordinary people will disappear.The right wing gleefully refers to this situation as the starve-the-beast strategy -- by depriving the government of adequate revenue, its regulatory powers will necessarily shrink.
Traditionally, Republicans represented themselves as the party of fiscal sobriety, insisting that balanced budgets were essential to solid economic performance.In the 1980s, a new strategy began to emerge.Conservatives began to welcome huge deficits.
More at:
http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/austerity-is-no-surprise/
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Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael dot perelman at gmail.com Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901 www.michaelperelman.wordpress.com