Bob Cesca asks for a reality check:

When has deficit reduction ever stimulated economic growth during a difficult recovery, and especially considering the disturbing economic indicators we're experiencing today (sluggish GDP, high unemployment, housing crisis, etc)? Never. In fact, the next nearest example -- the conservative budget cuts of 1937 during the recovery from the Great Depression -- damned us to another major recession, which spiked unemployment by nearly 10 percentage points and required another three years for the economy to return to its pre-austerity levels.

(image shows per capita real gdp during the great recession)