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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported last week that the federal debt had risen from 40% of gross domestic product in 2008 to 62% of GDP this year. In a surprising response, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday that in addition to cutting government spending – its usual prescription – the Obama administration will also have to consider raising taxes to decrease the U.S. deficit. The deficit occupies much air time and print space in the US mainstream media, echoing a standard line of conservative lawmakers. Even as the national unemployment rate remains near 10% and unemployment extensions begin to run out, mainstream media continues to send the usual message that middle and working-class Americans need to make big sacrifices for the sake of reducing the deficit. My guest is Neil DeMause, who has written several articles for Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting on the way the media has covered the economy since the crash. His most recent piece questions the media bias towards attacks on social safety net spending, especially on Social Security, while at the same time ignoring research showing that increasing taxes on the rich would be a viable way to drastically reduce the deficit.

GUEST: Neil DeMause, regular contributor to Extra! Village Voice, and City Limits, co-author of the book Field of Schemes

Read Neil DeMause’s article here: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4077