Pseudo-fact

Regarding
"George Will says tax cuts for wealthy cost less over 10 years than stimulus did in one year"

The Politifact.com truth-o-meter rated this as barely true.

My truth-o-meter rates this as false because it is a pseudo-fact. The statement is false based on the comparison of apples to oranges. The short term and long term consequences of these two very different expenditures makes putting them in the same sentence for comparison a pseudo-fact. The difference between the two costs is irrelevant to any debate about the deficit.

1. The stimulus stopped the US economy from sliding into a worse depression with higher unemployment. The tax cuts for the wealthy do not create jobs and no qualified economist can show you evidence that they do.

2. The difference between the tax cuts and the cost of the stimulus, according to your calculations, is $787 billion minus $678 billion or $109 billion. Mr. Will is focusing our attention on this difference when the real facts have to do with the systemic change of the stimulus expenditures on the overall economy.

3. The George Will statement is a deception to focus on the deficit and not the benefits of the stimulus. The difference between the cost of the tax cuts and the stimulus is a pseudo-fact.