WATCH: Michael Grabell Dispels Common Economic Myths on ABC 7 — ProPublica

WATCH: Michael Grabell Dispels Common Economic Myths on ABC 7

Aug. 22, 2011, 11:55 a.m. EDT

Was the 2009 stimulus package a deficit-busting failure or an unparalleled rescue? Are taxes stifling or the lowest they’ve ever been? As varying statements continue to pop up on both sides of the political fence, ProPublica reporter Michael Grabell addresses the most prevalent myths about the U.S. economy in an interview with ABC 7 in San Francisco.

In the segment, Grabell notes that the most common economic exaggeration is that taxes are the highest they’ve ever been. In actuality, “the percentage of income that Americans spend on taxes is the lowest it’s been since 1958,” he writes in his latest guide for ProPublica.

And when it comes to popular partisan claims that the stimulus failed or that it rescued the economy, Grabell points out that neither is true. “It clearly hasn’t hauled the economy back to full employment, but some economic models show it probably prevented a deeper downturn.”

Watch the full interview and read Grabell’s guide to the seven most common economic myths on our website.

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