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

[pa28]

6. We had our chance to balance the budget without austerity.

Anybody remember the so called "fiscal cliff"? The combination of military spending reductions and tax cut expirations which were supposed to result in scary scary things happening? Well, we went over the cliff and nothing happened.

Nothing except a balanced budget that is. A bipartisan deal extended most of the tax cuts and restored military spending but under that particular set of laws we would have had a balanced budget or damn close to it with 4% growth by 2015.

We're coming up on 2015 now and the economy is currently churning along with a 4.6% rate of growth.

So, just to sum it up. The 2012 deficit scolds and hysterics from both parties actually had a balanced budget in their grasp but I'm left to believe that's not what they really wanted. What they really wanted was to cut Social Security, Medicare, food stamps and anything else that smacked of social benefit to ordinary Americans.

When they talk about deficit reduction austerity is exactly what they really mean.