No Shutdown, But We Still Have a Problem

The good news is that we apparently won't have a government shutdown (at least as of 10:39 p.m. April 8, 2011).

The bad news is that the result is a reduction in government spending.

The worse news is that the deal is based on a lie - that the Great Recession and resulting unemployment resulted from budget deficits and national debt. The assurances that reducing spending will bring back prosperity is worse than a lie. It is a destructive lie.

Reduced spending has the potential to bring our very weak recovery to a screeching halt and initiate a new round of economic decline.

I don't like to sound pessimistic. Under normal circumstances, the budget wrangling would be very important, but not dangerous.

After all, the key issue of any political dispute is "who benefits" and "who pays?"

That is the heart of politics. And it affects everyone's welfare.

Where were the deficit hawks when Reagan and Bush I quadrupled the national debt? Where were they when Bill Clinton left behind a budget surplus and a plan to pay off that debt within a decade?

Were they not listening when Dick Cheney asserted that "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter."

Actually, no Democrat believes that deficits don't matter. It is just that there is a time to cut expenditures and a time to spend more.

If we want jobs, now is the time to spend more.

When the economy recovers, we need to reduce both public and private debt.