Comments on: Ryan’s Spending Cuts and the Sequester http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/ryans-spending-cuts-and-the-sequester/ Facts, Thoughts, and Commentary Fri, 24 May 2013 13:32:05 +0000 hourly 1 By: RayW http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/ryans-spending-cuts-and-the-sequester/#comment-268759 RayW Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:15:11 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=6134#comment-268759 Good afternoon. On MSNBC this afternoon (11/13/12) the subject of “unsustainable public debt” and “debt-to-GDP ratio” came up during your interview. It isn’t clear to me (or many others) that the focus on congressionally established budget balances or debt/GDP ratios out of context with import/export balances and private sector savings/debt/investment behavior is at all useful.

I think that you have a responsibility to not let that point slide during your interviews. Balancing the congressionally established budget (read … irrelevant to macroeconomic mechanics) isn’t a factual given.

It is pleasing that you regularly expose the baselessness of the neo-liberal economic debate, but the popular public debate is dangerously lacking.

When ever an interviewer or politician says we risk failure like Greece, you are being irresponsible to not state that it isn’t any anyway true.

Thanks for your work.

//cheers

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