Fiscal Insanity

Ronald Brownstein is unimpressed with the Senate moderates' success in halving President Bush's irresponsible tax cut. As he describes the moderates' $350 billion tax cut package:

For the deficit, that's better than the alternative. But only in the sense that it's better to be hit by a car than a truck.

First, Washington is already facing mammoth deficits. Private congressional estimates project that, excluding the money raised for Social Security, the federal government could run a deficit of as much as $530 billion this year, by far the largest ever. Under Bush's plan, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects huge deficits every year through the next decade.

Second, those deficits are undermining Washington's last opportunity to improve its fiscal position before the baby boom's retirement explodes the cost of Social Security and Medicare.

Third, cutting taxes during a war -- not only the conflict in Iraq but also the broader struggle against terrorism -- is unprecedented in American history. It amounts to asking the next generation to fund the national defense through a higher national debt.

But Brownstein gets at the bigger picture with his second point. The first baby boomers qualify for early eligibility Social Security benefits in less than five years. Because of the Bush Administration's economic policies, and the Democrats often acquiescence to them, our nation is unprepared for the fiscal pressures the baby boomers' retirement will cause.

Instead of making it easier for future taxpayers to fund the baby boomers' retirement, we are adding to the bill because of our selfishness. This policy, in effect, is all about leaving our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren with the check for our spending today.

Is this the Republicans' real definition of compassionate conservatism? Or family values?