The Economic Deception At The Heart Of The Fiscal Cliff

Truth Testing The Narrative

Among many politicians and much of the media there is an accepted narrative about  deficits, taxes and the so-called "Fiscal Cliff". It goes something like the following:

"The United States is running massive deficits that are bankrupting the country.  These deficits are so high because of the Bush era tax cuts.

So if we just end the tax cuts that caused this deficit in the first place, and make the rich return to paying their fair share of taxes, then much of the deficit problem is solved."

For millions of people in this country this is a compelling narrative, and understandably so. Because if we're so heavily into debt because of tax cuts that were given to the privileged, we need to just end the tax cuts and then the downward spiral ends -- which seems fair enough.

There's only one problem with this narrative – it isn't true.

READ MORE:  http://danielamerman.com/articles/2012/FiscalC.html