What's really disturbing is that all the talk - as factually fked up as it is - has filtered into the consciousness of the American public, and absent any effort on the part of the media to educate the public that cutting the deficit is the NOT the only answer to EVERY question, the public has bought in in sufficient numbers that their support is being used to keep these efforts going.

Not unlike the support for the Iraq war, which was ginned up on lies the media happily wrote down and reported far and wide.

From Charlie Pierce, reading about a new Pew poll:

What worries me more in these new numbers is the fact that the propaganda of the country's deficit hysterics seems to be carrying public opinion with it.

There is bipartisan agreement on this: Dealing with the budget deficit is urgent. That's a change. When Obama took office in 2009, during a cascading financial crisis, Americans put deficit reduction in the middle of a list of policy goals in a Pew poll. Now it has risen near the top. Seven of 10 Americans (including not only 81% of Republicans but also 65% of Democrats) say it is essential for the president and Congress to enact major deficit legislation this year. Just 4% say nothing needs to be done within the next few years...

...When asked which of four issues was most pressing - the deficit, guns, immigration or climate change - 51% chose the deficit, three times that of any other issue. However, there were some significant differences by race and ethnicity. Hispanics were inclined to choose immigration as the most critical issue; African Americans chose guns.

I have a feeling that the Austerians aren't going to be any more willing to compromise given these numbers than is the average House Republican in the average safe Republican House district. However, I think that the president, and far too many Democrats in the Congress, will be. The train, it appears, is coming down the track, and the people standing on the track are cheering. Duck, you suckers.