The clear and present danger to recovery, however, comes from politics — specifically, the demand from House Republicans that the government immediately slash spending on infant nutrition, disease control, clean water and more. Quite aside from their negative long-run consequences, these cuts would lead, directly and indirectly, to the elimination of hundreds of thousands of jobs — and this could short-circuit the virtuous circle of rising incomes and improving finances.
Honestly, it's probably too late. Deficit hawkery has been baked into the DC elite conventional wisdom. The Halperin types aren't discussing cutting versus not cutting -- they're just talking about how much cutting will occur. The Republicans appear to have won the deficit debate even though they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near issues of budgets and finance. They nearly crashed the world last time around, yet somehow they're being taken seriously this time. Hang on tight.
(via Ashby)