As soon as Democrats took over Washington with big plans for reviving the economy, corporate media started sounding the alarm about government spending (FAIR.org1/25/21). With the party’s infrastructure bill—which could come in around $2 trillion over four years—now pending, the media deficit hawks are on high alert, tossing around big, scary numbers to throw cold water on the bill.

It’s hardly surprising to find deficit hawkery from the Washington Post editorial board (3/11/21), which urged Democrats to “offset some or all of the cost [of the infrastructure bill], through higher revenues, reduced spending on lower-priority items or a mix of the two.” But proposals for government spending on long-overdue infrastructure investment are also spurring “straight” news reporting full of largely unfounded assumptions and concerns.

Read more at FAIR.