How to Spot a Deficit Peacock

How to Spot a Deficit Peacock By Michael Linden January 20, 2010

Deficit hawks come in a variety of breeds. There are those who believe that the long-term deficits pose serious risks, but that short-term deficits are necessary and wise during a recession. There are those who believe that deficits are always risky and should be avoided at all costs. Both kinds of hawks are genuine in their concern over our nation’s finances and are sincerely committed to working toward a more sustainable federal budget.

And then there is another species of deficit bird all together: the deficit peacock. Deficit peacocks like to preen and call attention to themselves, but are not sincerely interested in taking the difficult but necessary steps toward a balanced budget. Peacocks prefer scoring political points to solving problems.

1. They never mention revenues.

2. They offer easy answers.

3. They support policies that make the long-term deficit problem worse.

4. They think our budget woes appeared suddenly in January 2009.

President Bush took office when the nation had a record budget surplus . Yet he turned that surplus into a record deficit after repeatedly cutting taxes while prosecuting two wars and enacting billions of dollars worth of new spending programs without paying for any of them. When President Obama took office in the Congressional Budget Office projected a budget deficit of $1.2 trillion for the year. The steep decline from record surplus to record deficit resulted in a nearly $3 trillion increase in publicly held debt, the largest debt expansion in American history.

The steep decline from record surplus to record deficit resulted in a nearly $3 trillion increase in publicly held debt, the largest debt expansion in American history.

President Obama inherited the least balanced balance sheet in 60 years, took office in the midst of the deepest, most dangerous recession since the Great Depression. A large budget deficit is both necessary and wise during a recession. The extra spending and reduced taxes that cause big budget deficits help counter the recessionary spiral and ease its negative effects. Unfortunately, two terms of fiscal lunacy left the country in a much poorer position from which to respond to economic conditions, and left President Obama with little fiscal room to maneuver.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/01/deficit_peacock.html