…of the federal budget. From yesterday’s Washington Post (front page story) on the latest version of an economic stimulus plan (emphasis added):
Pitching a plan that is expected to include $300 billion in tax cuts, Obama pledged to consult Republican leaders, who until yesterday had been left out of negotiations between the president-elect’s advisers and congressional Democratic staff.
“The monopoly on good ideas does not belong to a single party. If it’s a good idea, we will consider it,” Obama told House and Senate leaders at an hour-long closed-door meeting, according to one attendee.
Obama, making his pitch two weeks before taking office, won generally favorable reviews from GOP leaders, particularly because of his decision to increase the tax-cut ratio to 40 percent of the overall package.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters they were convinced that Obama was sincere in his invitation to let Republicans help craft the nearly $800 billion package to create jobs and lift the nation out of recession. But they also expressed concerns about the size of the package, as well as particular elements under discussion between Obama and Democratic lawmakers.
“I remain concerned about wasteful spending that might be attached to the tax relief. Simply put, we should not bury future generations under mountains of debt,” Boehner said.
Funny how it’s only the “wasteful spending” (the “other side’s” policy) that adds to the “mountains of debt”–and not the tax cuts to which the spending is now merely “attached to.” (No news flash here: tax cuts actually aren’t “free.”) And I think we ought to recognize that it’s not just “the monopoly on good ideas” that doesn’t belong to a single party; unfortunately, the market for bad ideas is similarly “bipartisan.”
One thing is becoming clear: all these gracious and sincere negotiations are going to add up to a whole lot of debt–my point in Monday’s post. So let’s hope we spend the money wisely, so our kids will have the capacity to pay it back later on. Whether it be through government spending or tax cuts, we really shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that “wasting” is ok just because we’ve decided large deficits are ok and maybe even desirable (for now).
