Austerity Top Priority As Economy Sputters, Americans Suffer

This week's big debt deal has left progressives despairing over a disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country that they say has possibly never been wider.

Their concern arises from the fact that while the country suffers from a sputtering economy and a grinding jobs crisis, elected officials are celebrating the passage of a massive deficit-reduction bill almost guaranteed to even further slow the economy and cost jobs.

For the weeks leading up to the agreement, Democratic and Republican leaders were essentially trying to out-austere each other. It's that bipartisan enthusiasm for reducing the government's budget -- and the speed with which both parties abandoned a job-creating agenda -- that left-leaning analysts say demonstrate how beholden elected officials from both parties have become to the rich, and how out of touch they are with the problems of the poor and the middle class.

tristen303 wrote:How about the other side of the coin that the "left" or "Progressives" are that much outside the desires of mainstream America? I find it funny how when faced with facts both sides left or right cannot fathom that just maybe their politics are the problem not the people. It's that elitist attitude that compromises our democracy and it seems both sides suffer from it. I read the same BS from the far right. America like it or not is center right…why because that is what is good for the majority of Americans and the country. Far left and far right need to pack up their balls and go play elsewhere…..maybe the Far East? Europe got wise to their BS so there no longer welcome there either hmmmmm is that a theme I see emerging? Maybe it’s time for some to look in the mirror and adjust their out of date politics and representatives. If “Far Right ends up being “Far Wrong” and “Progressives” become “Regressives” (which it appears is happening now) maybe both need to retool themselves.