Monday, August 1, 2011

Trivial Cuts But No New Taxes

That's my one-line summary of the debt ceiling deal. It's nothing great, but it's the best that could be expected given the political situation. We will continue to borrow and spend ridiculous amounts of money, but we will make some minor cuts over ten years to offset this particular increase in the debt ceiling. Despite all the nonsense about "hostage-taking" and "extortion" from big government types, the House GOP did the right thing in attempting to force some fiscal reform. They didn't succeed, but at least they were able to block new taxes.

There will be no actual cuts to government, no programs closed down, no departments eliminated, or anything else that would indicate a serious attempt to scale back the size of government and its out-of-control spending. In fact, this deal even creates yet another commission to try and agree on part of the cuts specified in the agreement. But at least for now, there will be no new taxes to give the government even more money to spend.

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