PARASILITI: Dealing with a deficit during recession

A rare voice of wisdom, but will anybody in power ever listen to it or learn from it. The political calculus of the establishment is based on two things: 1) The next generation is the one special interest group that can't vote and can't raise campaign cash. Ergo, screw 'em and tell the U.S. Treasury to borrow away regardless of the future repercussions. 2) Nobody within the last 70 years ever won an election by promising to or actually balancing the budget. Antiquated as it may sound, there was a time when neither the President nor the Congress considered their duty to the nation being done unless the budget was balanced. This concept should be dusted off and made part of the electorate's evaluation of their leaders. The exploding federal government deficit and an out-of-control activist judiciary are, I believe, the two events within the last 40 years that could severely, maybe irreparably, crack the foundation of America's constitutional republic.

I fear the abuses of power of the Bush administration will simply be carried on by the Obama administration. Once gov't has seized power rarely does it give it up willingly. I'm curious now that Obama is becoming President does this paper or anyone who castigated those of us who warned about Bush's seizure of extraordinary powers regrets it? Or will you all act as if someone this power grab is a purely democratic event?

I find it quite telling that after being attacked on 9/11 and having to fight the war on terror, that Democrats constantly attacked Bush and Republicans on deficit spending but now that they have control of spending, deficits are fine and dandy. War doesn't justfiy deficit spending but Democrat spending priorities, that's another thing altogether.

Jaeger: RiGHT AGAIN! We must return to government constrained by the constitution and budget!

Hey pal - screw the budget process! This is about real people who are broke and out of a job. Governance is about doing what's right for the people, not some arcane policy BS.

It’s amazing. When the Republicans were transforming a surplus into record deficits, the conservative mantra was “deficits don’t matter.” Now that we are in a deep recession that resists the best efforts of monetary policy, the one time that economics calls for deficit stimulus, conservatives discover fiscal responsibility. Those conservatives were wrong then and they are wrong now.