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Republicans will meet with the Obama Administration again today as the President continues to push hard for a compromise budget deal to secure GOP approval on the debt ceiling. On Sunday, House GOP members refused a so-called “grand deal” from the White House, a package that would cut projected deficits by $4 trillion over the next 10 years. Republicans balked over tax increases in the proposal, including taxes on big corporations and wealthy Americans. Speaker of the House John Boehner toed the party line on Monday explaining the impasse thus: “The American people will not accept – and the House cannot pass – a bill that raises taxes on job creators.” At a press conference yesterday the President was tight-lipped on negotiation specifics, but repeatedly admonished the recalcitrance of his opponents. He said a budget with all cuts and no new revenues would not be fair, and refused a one-sided deal. He also acknowledged anger from his party and base over his compromises saying, “I am prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done.” Democrats vowed to filibuster any vote on a budget that included cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and yesterday organized labor spoke out vehemently against that possibility. A shadow factor in the public debate over the budget battle in DC is the inability, or unwillingness, of journalists to challenge the fuzzy math recited by politicians. When it was reported that President Obama agreed to cut 4 trillion dollars, over 10 years, from the projected deficit, the average news consumer has little context for the numbers? Dean Baker, at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, believes it is the responsibility of journalists to make economic news meaningful, and that they are currently failing the public. He writes, “If politicians knew that they would pay a political price for making things up about the budget and the economy, then they would be less likely to do it.”

GUEST: Dean Baker, is the co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)

Find out more at www.cepr.net.