I guess it all depends on how you look at it…

Bush II chief economist and CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin attacking the millionaires tax:

The insane belief common among many of the beltway pundits and politicians that the American people actually want a “grand bargain” or a “super Congress” to cut our entitlement programs has absolutely no basis in reality. It is purely a fantasy created people with lots of money, who don’t think they will ever have trouble affording the basic necessities after they retire.

Just a few of the amazing things you can pick up from reading the news.

Even the people who hyperventilate about deficits for a living think economic growth is more important than spending cuts right now.

CBS News has released a new poll and, not surprisingly, with official unemployment around nine percent, it found that an overwhelming 51 percent of Americans said jobs/economy is the most important problem facing the country. By comparison, the national debt comes in second with a mere seven percent of Americans saying it is the most important problem, followed by health care with five percent.

Why is it that Republican job creation strategies never seem to have anything to do with creating jobs? Just remember one simple rule, and it will all make perfect sense.

Politico explains to us how fortunate the Republicans are that the sober and fiscal-minded tea party grownups dragged them kicking and screaming away from irrational Obama hatred to a laser focus on budget cuts, which most Americans want because they stimulate the economy and create jobs. This savvy change in focus is why they won big last year and will win big again next year.

In what is something like the 50th survey to show the same thing, a new Bloomberg poll (PDF) found that by far the top issue for Americans is jobs, and that a clear majority want the federal government to be focused on the priority of creating jobs instead of cutting spending.

With the exception of the McCarthy era, I can’t remember a time when the facts pointed so clearly to mass public hysteria, denial and delusion among those who are driving government policies.

When fully in control of Washington, the Republican Party has traditionally shown no concern for budget deficits. They had no problem passing both unpaid-for tax cuts or huge entitlement expansion on nearly party line votes. As Republican Vice President Dick Cheney famously said, “Deficits don’t matter” –at least as long as Republicans are in the White House.