"Once more, the Republican Congress is holding the economy hostage as “leverage” to extort deep and unpopular cuts in the core pillars of family security – Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Not surprisingly, Americans disapprove in large numbers, with Congress in general and Republicans in particular setting new records in popular disregard.
But make no mistake; the wrecking crew is winning by defining what the national debate is about. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell calls the deficit the “transcendent issue of our time,” as if balancing the budget would fix our economy.
No, the fundamental issue of our time is an economy that works only for the few, plagued by mass unemployment, declining wages and increasing insecurity. But despite the best efforts of the president in his State of the Union address, the fiscal hostage-taking by McConnell and the Tea Party Congress have made deficits the only subject in town."
