Myths the rich would like us to believe

1. Tax increases stifle the economy

"There is one serious problem with [Grover] Norquist's antitax fetishism.... It makes more sense as a marketing ploy than as public policy. Indeed, increasing taxes in a reasonable way doesn't seem to have much effect on the economy at all. Reagan signed a tax increase --- yes, a stiff tax increase, the first of three by the Gipper --- as a deep recession was coming to an end in 1982... and the economy boomed. The same thing happened after Bill Clinton's 1993 tax increase."

--- Joe Klein, TIME Magazine, July 25, 2011, at 29.

2. The jobs lost during the Great Recession were cyclical and will be back

"Edward Learner, an economics professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management... says the recession permanently wiped out 2.5 million jobs" in the U.S.

--- Dan Lyons, NEWSWEEK Magazine, July 25, 2011, at 28.

3. Democrats are big spenders, Republicans are fiscally responsible

Bill Clinton's administration balanced the budget. George W. Bush's administration ran up the largest deficits in U.S. history.

4. Entitlements are the main causes of the deficit

The defense budget is larger than the Medicare budget.
Social Security remains largely self-funded.
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