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The Liberal Take On The Fiscal Cliff

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Liberals on the fiscal cliff. The White House is negotiating tough. We’ll hear the liberal view of the cliff and its meaning.

Cliff Diving in Portugal. (AP)
Cliff Diving in Portugal. (AP)

Washington’s in a lather about the fiscal cliff. So is Wall Street. So, if markets tell the story, may be the world.

The President’s put out his solution. Yesterday, the Republicans put their bid on the table.

But there is a view out there that says the whole cliff is a hustle. A liberal view that says it’s an artificial crisis, built to stampede Americans into surrendering entitlements that don’t need surrendering. Paul Krugman argues, go over the cliff. He’s with us today. More, too. But what about the deficit?

This hour, On Point: liberals on the fiscal cliff.
-Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Lisa Mascaro, covers Congress for the Los Angeles Times.

Stephanie Kelton, founder and editor-in-chief, New Economic Perspectives.

Paul Krugman, columnist for the New York Times. Professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University.

Stan Collender, national director of financial communications at Quorvis.

From Tom's Reading List

Business Insider "Kelton says a "Grand Bargain" really just means "austerity," and she says there is an alternative to the "Grand Bargain" that would put people back to work, upgrade U.S. infrastructure, and put the American economy on a better trajectory in the long term."

The New York Times "And one thing to think about: if the next two years are, as they seem likely to be, one long Republican tantrum, the 2014 election is not going to be a normal midterm. It will instead be a referendum on GOP obstructionism, which may attract a lot more attention — and much higher turnout — than normal."

This program aired on December 4, 2012.

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