Never mind that the vast majority of the deficit we have now is due to tax cuts and wars put in place over the 6 years of Republicans in charge, at a time when the economy could have taken on the tax hikes to begin pay off the deficit.
Never mind that any real effort to fix the deficit will require either higher taxes or draconian cuts to Social Security and Medicare, the first of which is impossible due to Republican opposition and the latter of which is just impossible.
Never mind that we are in the midst of the worst recession in god know how long, with double digit unemployment, when you WANT to be spending.
Never mind that the actual worries over deficit spending or loose monetary policy are nowhere to be seen (inflation is still WAY below the government's own target and interest rates on our debt are rock-bottom.)
These people still want to rein in the deficit, thus killing job creation, forcing the Democrats to make politically suicidal cuts/tax hikes (without ANY Republican support--they'll just sit on the side and criticize no matter what). They can cry generational theft all they like, but right now I'll take a little thieving from my own future if it means I can get a job now. And that will take getting everyone working.
I will grant that Broder has been against the deficit for a long time, and so there is no hypocrisy on his part, but at the very least he's lousy at economics. (I will withhold judgment on all the Republicans on that special Pew report, and I will condemn the Bushies like Karl Rove who keep making this argument on TV.) Right now, the country needs to spend and not raise taxes. That should come once the recession is over.
All one has to do is look at history. Republican President and Congress=HUGE deficit. Democrat President and Congress=surplus. I doubt we'll see a surplus in the next 3 years, but...
ReplyDeleteWell, yes. However, even many Democrats right now are falling for the idea that we need "fiscal discipline" even in the midst of the worst damned recession in the last half-century. It is ridiculously stupid, but it's still there.
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