The View from Abroad: sky-rocketting deficits

"The rest of the world, including Asia, is looking at the United States and seeing no real effective policy measures in bringing the economy back on track,” said Bart van Ark, the chief economist at the Conference Board, which measures American economic indicators... From the perspective of those outside the United States, “Republican claims to fiscal probity are a little difficult to buy into,” said Simon Tilford, the chief economist at the Center for European Reform in London. “What they’re advocating would probably increase the deficit rather than effect the dramatic reduction which they claim they want to bring about.” — NYT

Think about the reliability of the sources. These people do not have a dog in this fight. They couldn't care less, politically, who wins and who loses. They're operating solely out of self-interest: they don't want the American to run up a bigger deficit because it threatens their economies. And they're batoning down the hatches, preparing for a huge deficit increase because of the Republican gains in congress. How did they come by this penetrating insight? They looked at their plan to add $700 billion to the deficit.