The Washington Austerity Class Described

This article helps to explain the power of the "austerity class" over policy discussions in Washington. The short answer is funding. Pete Peterson, a billionaire and former Commerce Secretary under Richard Nixon, has spent $383 million of the $1 billion he promised, to fund a number of organizations that have put deficit reduction ahead of job creation in Washington. These organizations, as well as the prominent individuals in them, are described in the article. They are viewed as the "serious people" in Washington and they are provided many opportunities by the media to sell the public on priority of deficit reduction. The targets of the deficit hawks are the federal entitlement programs.