ACCORDING TO ECONOMIST DEAN BAKER, CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS ARE "TOTALLY DISHONEST" WHEN THEY SAY THAT WASHINGTON HAS A "SPENDING PROBLEM" THAT GIVES RISE TO THE SO-CALLED "FISCAL CLIFF." FIRST, REPUBLICANS SEE NO SPENDING PROBLEM AT ALL WHEN IT'S FOR THE MILITARY/INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, ONLY WHEN IT'S FOR THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET, WHICH COSTS MANY TIMES LESS. IN FACT A FISCAL CLIFF DOESN'T REALY EXIST AT ALL. IF NOTHING IS DONE BY JANUARY 1ST, NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN.

---

Dean Baker: The Biggest Myth in Obama-GOP Spending Showdown is the "Fiscal Cliff" Itself

Original Here


As negotiations continue between the White House and House Speaker John Boehner, leading economist Dean Baker joins us to discuss the myths about the so-called fiscal cliff. With little more than two weeks before the deadline, President Obama insists on an immediate increase in the top two income-tax rates as a condition for further negotiations on changes to spending and entitlement programs. But Boehner said Washington’s "spending problem" is the biggest roadblock to reaching a deal and has urged the White House to identify more spending cuts. "This idea that, somehow, if we don’t get a deal by the end of the year we’re going to see the economy collapse, go into a recession, really that’s just totally dishonest," says Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "The basis for this is that we don’t have a deal all year. And the fact that you don’t have a deal December 31st does not mean you don’t get a deal by December 31st, 2013." [Original includes rush transcript]