Monday, February 5, 2007

Selling Band-Aids to Buy Battleships

It makes no sense to me how we can pay for a massively expensive war (Bush is seeking $245 billion for '07 and '08) while holding down taxes, the government's largest source of revenue. According to Bush it can be done by making a few cuts here and few cuts there, such as in healthcare and agricultural subsidies. I don't doubt that there is plenty of room in government spending to make cuts. I doubt how realistic the promise is. For instance, this country has a long history of farm subsidies, and agriculture lobbyists have gotten fat fighting that war for farmers. So when push comes to shove, is Bush, or more precisely Republicans who need the rural vote in 2008, really going to push for, and win, the necessary cuts?

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