Paul Krugman: Uninformed Politicians Pushing US Toward Austerity

Some of us had fun with a recent Business Insider poll finding that by a large margin, people who thought they knew something about the fiscal cliff believed that it would increase, not reduce, the deficit.

Hahaha — although I actually have a lot of sympathy for ordinary voters, who don't follow these things closely but know that everyone important has been warning for years that the budget deficit is Worse Than Hitler or something. How are they supposed to know that those very same people are now screaming that the deficit is coming down too fast? I have less sympathy for major political figures who also can't get it straight.