Yet More Proof the Debt/Deficit Hyenas Are Lying

Even if the deficit and debt were significant enough to be of concern - which the article below proves they are not - they would still be irrelevant in light of high unemployment demanding massive government spending to create 10 million jobs.

Next time somebody starts hyperventilating about the deficit or the debt, look around, take a couple of deep sniffs, grimace and say: "I think somebody needs a diaper change."

Brian Beutler at TPM:

For the next several weeks, and likely through election season, Washington will continue to be gripped by the debate about how to reduce federal deficits and the national debt. It's a common focus of legislative preening, particularly after economic downturns, and even more particularly when Democrats control the White House.

So it's worth keeping in mind how current and projected deficits and debt stack up to their historic levels, relative to GDP. The answers will surprise you.

The following graph tracks annual deficits as percentages of GDP over the last several decades. Unsurprisingly, what you see is that they spike during economic downturns, with the most severe spike after the United States entered World War II -- a spending effort that provided the economic stimulus the country needed to finally break the back of the Great Depression.

Read the whole thing.