How politicians experience public opinion

As chronicled below the economic focus is not where it should be – jobs, as opposed to the deficit. More jobs will fix the deficit. That’s why this post by Ezra Klein is so disconcerting, Jobs beat deficit for voters, but not for politicians.

That said, the fact that people are worried about jobs and unemployment doesn’t mean that they trust that more stimulus spending will make much of a dent. The way a lot of politicians are experiencing public opinion has left them convinced that voters believe further spending increases the deficit but don’t believe that it increases employment and thus they think the safe play is to avoid doing anything at all. Moreover, politicians think a lot more about the press they’ll get the day after they vote for a bill than what unemployment will look like the day before America decides whether to vote for them.

Not saying he’s wrong it’s just that inside the that operate inside beltway and the village live in a completely different reality than working American.

The beltway/village refraction through which politicians and the media see reality has nothing at all to do with the facts on the ground. The reality is simple, put people back to work in large numbers and the deficit melts away.