NYT's Bob Herbert: The Impossible Dream

[flpoljunkie]

You can’t have a coherent conversation about deficit reduction if tax increases are off the table and the country is still at war. This is fantasyland economics, the equivalent of believing that John Boehner can fly.

People traveling in the real world understand that the federal budget deficits are sky high because of the Bush-era tax cuts, the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the spending that was needed to keep the Great Recession from spiraling into another Great Depression.

Even if deficit reduction right now were a good idea — which it is not, given the sorry state of the economy and the vast legions of the unemployed — the deficit zealots have no viable plan for getting their misguided mission accomplished.

What’s needed now is the same thing that has been needed for the past two years and more, a bold plan to put millions of Americans back to work and paying taxes, and a careful, thoughtful, strategic but unequivocal withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/opinion/09herbert.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. The theory that John Boehner can fly...

...I believe deserves thorough empirical testing.

[ellenfl]

5. may i help pitch him off the capital dome? just to test, of course. eom

[OHdem10]

2. The Republicans see tax cuts as cutting the budget. That would

be 700Billion dollars not going into the Government
coffers. 700Billion off the Deficit. This is called
Starving the Beast. Give enough Tax cuts and one
day there will be so little money coming in to the
Government, they will stand up and say--we have no
money, END the Entitlement Programs. This tactic
was developed when they began to see the people
got roiled up over the idea of cutting SS and Medicare.
Starve The Beast is a real tactic. Just ask Norquist.

[Stuart G]

3. K and R

[kentuck]

4. I disagree with Bob Herbert that deficit reduction is not a good idea.

I think that would be the best thing for our economy and creating jobs and instilling confidence in the markets. They should start by not extending the Bush taxcuts for the wealthy and means-test the rest.