When you read "deficit reduction", think "austerity"

[MannyGoldstein]

They are, by and large, the same thing.

Now I absolutely understand that there is some political capital to be gained by telling the unlearned that we're reducing deficits.

But I think that the preferred situation is to help folks understand that deficit reduction austerity during a depression (for the 99%) helps only the wealthiest, and is a large part of why most Americans continue to struggle six years after the not-guilty-of-anything-whatsoever bankers crashed the world economy while getting the biggest bonuses ever.

Austerity not only inherently starves the economy at the time when it most needs the help, it also reduces the demand for workers at the time when demand is already at its lowest. It all results in the vulnerable becoming roadkill.