So there I was this morning, after my usual morning search for something approaching a full time job in my chosen career (generally unsuccessful of course) and going on to the standard search of the various news sites just to see what is happening in the world around us, I came across this article over at CNN:
Economists' biggest worry: Federal budget deficitOnce again, when I think I have seen just how totally clueless economists are, it is articles such as this that let me know we still have such a long way to go. From the article:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Government deficits are the biggest long-term worry of top U.S. economists, according to a survey released Monday.Why do I think most of these 47 economists that were polled probably supported the Tax Cut extensions?
The survey of 47 top economists by the National Association of Business Economics predicted that the Federal deficit will jump to $1.4 trillion in the fiscal year ending in September. In the November survey, the economists had forecast a $1.1 trillion deficit.
...snip...
The previous survey was taken before Congress agreed to extend Bush-era tax cuts for all income brackets and have a one-year holiday on a portion of the payroll tax. The payroll tax holiday, which hadn't been widely expected, by itself added about $112 billion to the federal deficit.
Asked to rank the seriousness of various economic problems, with one meaning no concern and five equaling extreme concern, the federal deficit was the biggest worry, with an average score of 4.1.
