The United States is set to jump into an austerity economic death spiral this year. Already – thanks to Republican hostage scenarios forcing deep spending cuts, the United States is set to swallow $348 billion in austerity measures in 2013. That includes $200 billion in spending cuts and an additional $125 billion from the expiration of the payroll tax cut. These austerity measures total 2.1% of our national GDP – which is more austerity than most nations in Europe have endured thus far – including the UK, France, and Spain. This month, we learned that thanks to austerity, the UK is now in a double-dip recession. And Spain, which has been choking on austerity for a year, now has the highest unemployment rate in Europe of 26.2%.

Austerity sucks money out of the hands of working people, so that rich people don’t have to pay their fair share for deficit reduction and economic growth. And since working people are the real job creators – and not rich people – then austerity kills economies. All austerity has done to the Eurozone is push it closer and closer to collapse – and it will do the same thing to the United States. And considering that a new so-called fiscal cliff looms two months from now – and Republicans, as well as President Obama, are pushing for more spending cuts and more austerity – our nation could be facing a tumultuous 2013.

Today is the first day of the new Congress -- and we all have to get active and convince our lawmakers to abandon this psychotic thinking that we can cut our way to prosperity. It’s never happened before anytime in the history of the planet. We need stimulus spending – not austerity gutting.