Austerity – Delaware Liberal

Chart of the Day — The Collapse of Infrastructure Spending

By cassandra_m November 11, 201321 Comments

This is one amazing chart -- documenting just how much we are underspending in fixing and upgrading our infrastructure, keeping in mind that we were under-investing in infrastructure already. This chart includes state and local spending (not just the Feds) and should be a Very Big Red Flag:

Chris Coons is On the Budget Conference Committee

By cassandra_m October 22, 20134 Comments

This is the committee formed as part of the deal to re-open the government and avoid the debt ceiling. It isn't much of a giveaway, as Conference Committees are the usual order of business in Congress after budgets have passed the House and Senate. This Conference Committee -- as would others -- is meant to negotiate a single budget from the two that have passed. Senator Chris Coons is on this committee as a result of his being on the Senate Budget Committee.

What If You Held a “Fix the Debt” Twitter Chat and Only People Hip to Your Scam Showed Up?

By cassandra_m October 18, 20134 Comments

This is nothing but awesome sauce. The astroturf group Fix the Debt had a live Twitter chat yesterday to try to keep spinning up the fearmongering on the debt and they got trolled Big.Time -- by smart citizens who know that Fix the Debt is nothing but a front to eliminate Social Security and to cripple us with their austerity program. If you are on Twitter, you can look at #fixthedebtqa to see the fun up close and personal. But here are a few sites who are posting up some of the favorite Tweets:

Greece in Turmoil; Euro Crisis Possibly Looms

By nemski May 15, 20122 Comments

As Greece attempts to form a coalition government which may or may not abide by the austerity terms it earlier negotiated its continental neighbors, Europe is quite possibly teetering on a financial crisis.

Break Up The Euro

By nemski May 7, 2012

As the people of France and Greece voted that austerity is not working, Paul Krugman asks, “What’s next?”

France Goes to the Polls

By nemski May 5, 20123 Comments

The French head to the polls tomorrow to decide between President Nicolas Sarkozy and challenger François Hollande, a Socialist which is turning into a vote about Europe’s austerity plans.

Seriously, Austerity Is Not Working

By nemski April 29, 20121 Comment

As we brought to your attention the other day, austerity as a policy is not working. Economist Christina D. Romer writes, “The result is that austerity is uniquely destructive right now.”

Austerity is Dead, Long Live Austerity

By nemski April 28, 20122 Comments

With the failings of austerity as a large hammer to fix the world economy become oh-so-evident, still pundits and policy makers keep on pushing it through.

Who Gains Most from Tax Breaks

By cassandra_m April 20, 20124 Comments

David Leonhardt and the NYT have created another outstanding graphic trying to explain the landscape of current tax policy. This one shows what taxpayers get the greatest benefit from the various tax breaks currently in the code by income group. Click on the image for the larger graphic or click here if that doesn't work. This graphic is part of a great explainer that lays out what happens and the stakes for the coming end of lots of government benefits in January 2014.