Pat Garofalo: ‘Obama’s tax increases are actually bringing the deficit down’
“The folks pushing austerity are going to push austerity no matter what the numbers say.” —Pat Garofalo watch video
Topic: Budget
Charles Pierce: The sequester will really hurt ‘people who don’t get noticed on the news very much’
“(The sequester will hurt) the kids who can’t get into Head Start, and the people whose food stamps are going to get cut, and a lot of people who don’t get covered quite as extensively as people who get delayed [...] watch video
Rep. Alan Grayson on why Democrats shouldn’t support Obama’s budget proposal
“The president has offered something up — in return for nothing.” —Rep. Alan Grayson watch video
Are Americans too tolerant of the sequester? Rep. Charles Rangel says yes
“The American people are a very tolerant people. They complain, but they don’t do anything to change.” —Rep. Charles Rangel watch video
Robert Reich: ‘There is nothing that is particularly important about balancing the budget’
“There’s no reason to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.” —Robert Reich watch video
Debunking the biggest lies about Social Security and Medicare
“If you [took] everybody who earns more than $1 million and calculated their Social Security benefits, it comes to about 14 hundredths of a percent of the money that’s laid out.” —Michael Hiltzik watch video
Joel Berg: The sequester will lead to ‘mass suffering’ for the poor if budget cuts remain in place
“Americans are socialized into thinking there’s going to be some sort of Frank Capra–esque happy ending.” —Joel Berg watch video
Fugelsang: Cutting Medicare to fix budget is like invading Iraq when you were attacked by 15 Saudis
“Some of the people who told you how necessary the Iraq War was — both in politics and media — are now telling you how necessary austerity is.” —John Fugelsang watch video
Filmmaker Joe Gantz on the sequester: ‘I can’t imagine what these cuts are going to do to families’
“There is a disconnect and an inability to really look at what’s going on.” —”American Winter” director Joe Gantz watch video
Rep. Grayson: There is no fiscal crisis, we’ve just given in to Republican crisis mindset
“This terrible preoccupation with austerity, with deficits, with debt is mistaken.” —Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla. watch video
