Talk in Washington lately has been all about cutting deficits and balancing budgets, but not enough about what the American people are really worried about: unemployment and a rotting economy.

The lack of appropriate discourse in Washington today is a major problem, Paul Krugman writes, with politicians and pundits wrongly insisting that there are no short-term fixes and we should focus on long-run solutions such as “entitlement reform.” –BF

Paul Krugman in The New York Times:

For the fact is that right now the economy desperately needs a short-run fix. When you’re bleeding profusely from an open wound, you want a doctor who binds that wound up, not a doctor who lectures you on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle as you get older. When millions of willing and able workers are unemployed, and economic potential is going to waste to the tune of almost $1 trillion a year, you want policy makers who work on a fast recovery, not people who lecture you on the need for long-run fiscal sustainability.

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