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Just one single percent of Americans rank the deficit as the most important issue for them in choosing a president, according to the new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
The percentage of Americans who think the deficit is the most important issue this election is so incredibly tiny that it is practically unmeasurable. What Americans really care about right now are the immediate economic and employment crises, not potential long term budget projections.
The bizarre obsession by mainstream media and political elites with the deficit during an employment crisis isn’t based on public outcry, nor is it drive by the market, given that our government borrowing costs are near historic lows. It is a manufactured issue created by billionaires spending literally hundreds of millions to artificially raise its prominence and furthered by those who want to use it as an excuse for their real goal of slashing our social safety net.
6. What is the single most important issue in your choice for president?
5/20/12 1/15/12 11/3/11
Economy/jobs 52 51 56
Health care/repealing Obamacare 7 3 4
Morals/family values 5 3 4
Ethics/honesty/corruption in government 4 6 7
Beating Romney/re-electing Obama/Supporting the Democrats* 1 1 2
Federal budget deficit 1 2 2
Taxes 1 2 2
Beating Obama/electing Romney/Supporting the Republicans* 1 1 1
Gay marriage/gay rights 1 * 0
Education 1 1 1
Social Security 1 1 1
Terrorism/national security 1 2 1
Abortion 1 * 1
Afghanistan/War in Afghanistan 1 1 *
Experience 1 1 *
Middle class Americans/helping the middle class 1 1 NA
Foreign policy 1 1 *
Gas/oil prices/energy/ethanol * * *
Iran/Situation in Iran * * 0
Guns/Gun control * * 0
Environment * * 1
Immigration/illegal immigration * * 1
Leadership/strong leadership/good leader 0 2 1
Banks/Financial institutions * NA NA
Change * * 1
Housing/mortgages 0 1 *
Iraq/War in Iraq NA 1 *
Other (SPECIFY) 14 10 10
No opinion 4 7 5
*1/15/12 and previous “the/a Republican” instead
15 Comments
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Of course just 1 single percentage ranks the deficit as the number one issue.
That’s why they’re called the 1%. And because of their power, even though they are the only percent ranking it number one, it’s going to be number one on every politicians agenda.
There was a great article on Naked Capitalism yesterday that did a great job not only explaining ‘deficits’, but differentiating between sovereign currency-producing government and state & local governments as well as individuals. J. D. Alt: Playing Monopolis Monopoly: An Inquiry Into Why We Are Making Ourselves So Miserable As long as the media and pundits can successfully conflate the two and instill fear into the conservative mind, it’s not possible to wipe deficit fear from the public mind. Oh, for a bit of education for the uninformed! http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/j-d-alt-playing-monopolis-monopoly-an-inquiry-into-why-we-are-making-ourselves-so-miserable.html
Hmmmm, so maybe we are a “one issue” kind of a country…but the PTB are focused on THEIR issue and not OUR issue.
Others beat me to it. It’s the 1% who wants the phoney Deficit “issue” to be front & center. And since it’s the 1% who owns & runs what laughingly passes for “government” in the USA, then what the 1% decrees is what happens.
As for the 99%? Whatever…
This needs to be repeated over and over again until the middlebrows who think watching “Meet the Press” makes them informed citizens finally understand it.
The bizarre obsession by mainstream media and political elites with the deficit during an employment crisis isn’t based on public outcry, nor is it drive by the market, given that our government borrowing costs are near historic lows.
That’s your 1% right there.
May people are finally waking up. Lets hope they show their intelligence at the polls.
Well, a big problem is that most politics are local, and the choices at the local level are not the issues on Q #6. How would someone vote for the economy? It is not on the ballot.
But are “regular” people going to vote?
Most of them did in 2006 and 2008. It didn’t seem to matter, so most of them stayed home in 2010.
Lotta “regular” people hurtin’.Been working for the same salary for 20 years. Gas has doubled, health insurance has doubled, utilities have doubled.
Of course, whadya gonna do about it??? The 99% got nobody in government on our side.
Do the 1% answer survey questions? If so that is the only surprise here.
Meanwhile a top issue getting very little attention…
From Greenpeace-
State of the Reactors
International concern about the precarious safety of the damaged spent fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi’s reactor #4 is growing, including in the United States and Switzerland. The spent fuel pool there was heavily damaged when a hydrogen explosion destroyed the walls and roof of the building, leaving 1,331 spent fuel rods exposed. Experts are increasingly concerned that another large earthquake, tsunami, or terrorist attack could cause the structure to collapse, releasing immense amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. An explosion or fire at the pool could also affect the nearby common spent fuel pool, which is only 50 meters away, and contains 6,375 fuel rods. The results would be catastrophic. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) will not admit the magnitude earthquake at which the structure would be at risk. Senior Vice-Minister for Reconstruction Ikko Nakatsuka conceded that there is no real definition of safety when talking about nuclear power: “When we say ‘safe,’ we have to say at what [risk] level.”
TEPCO
Apparently the “deficit” hysteria is trapped inside the Beltway bubble.
You forgot to mention college education, housing, cars, food and every other necessity item sold by a monopoly driven government enabled industry.