On debt reduction, U.S. is nearly finished

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/11/16463952-on-debt-reduction-us-is-nearly-finished?lite

From the site:

I've been known to publish a few charts and graphs on the debt from time to time, but this latest gem from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is especially important.

We talked earlier this week about a policy detail much of the political establishment chooses to overlook: the fact that policymakers have already adopted a series of measures that will sharply reduce the national debt. Indeed, just since the start of fiscal year 2011, President Obama has signed $2.4 trillion of debt reduction into law. If one includes the projected savings from the Affordable Care Act, that total is even higher.

For the right, which ironically was responsible for creating a fiscal mess during the Bush/Cheney era but which now inexplicably claims the high ground, the progress isn't good enough. We need more austerity, conservatives argue, to address the "debt crisis."