More and more, people are starting to agree with what we have known all along—austerity measures (when we use a “cuts-only” approach to budgeting) are hurting our economy.

 

Over the past few years, deficit hawks—including the corporate front group Fix the Debt—have used dishonest fear-mongering to prevent the kind of government investment needed to create jobs and jumpstart the economy.  The bogus hysteria around debt and deficits is the driver of austerity policies and the people behind it have enormous economic and political power.

 

The tide has turned most recently because the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has published projections showing a shrinking deficit, combined with the fact that the study used to support austerity arguments proved to have serious flaws.

 

But we still need more work to make sure Congress knows that we won’t stand by while they attack and undermine programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food assistance, and education. We need to keep calling U.S. Senator Mark Warner and U.S. Senator Tim Kaine to let them know we need to strengthen programs, not cut them.

 

Right now, there is a real danger that Social Security will be cut by changing the cost of living adjustments from an inflation index to the Consumer Price Index (or “chained-CPI”).