Bush: Writing Checks His Butt Can't Cash

So, the Bush budget battle is all set to begin, as the President sent a $2.57 trillion budget plan to Congress today. The story line the administration is selling is that it's a grand, responsible bit of fiscal planning, and I don't doubt for a minute that, when Democrats try to fight spending cuts in health and education programs, the administration will ridicule them as standing in the way of efforts to balance the budget. Never mind that those cuts, which will harm lower income families above all, are being made to right a budget reddened by over $3 trillion in tax cuts, most of which went to the wealthy. And never mind that the budget plan, which depends upon healthy economic growth to cut the annual deficit to $230 billion by 2009, does not take into account spending on military activity in Iraq or Afghanistan, administration efforts to make previous tax cuts permanent, or transition costs for Bush's Social Security plan (which, Cheney speculated this Sunday, could easily reach into the multiple trillions of dollars). In short, Bush's belt tightening effort is little more than window dressing.

I don't believe we're heading for a major fiscal crisis. What I do know, however, is this: such massive government borrowing is going to push up the cost of debt at a time where investors have lots of other attractive investment options abroad. This means that interest rates are going to be higher across the board, which is going to be a drag on the economy for the next 20 years. I don't like Bush for a lot of reasons, but one huge one is that he's dampened the economic outlook for the US during the two decades when I'm supposed to be at my earning peak. Thanks a lot, asshole.

I suppose I'm just grumpy today. My Wolfpack can't buy a basketball victory, and I was pulling for the hapless Eagles last night. I'm tired of the Patriots, who must be the world's least entertaining dynasty, and I'm tired of New England fans who were a fun oddity in defeat, but have proved to be omnipresent in their overbearing ebulliance in victory. Yes, we all know you're on top of the sports world. Now please go to hell. And for some reason it felt illiberal to pull for the Eagles, and I'm not sure why. It should be the good Democrat's thing to do. While the northeast keeps pushing the party left so we can't ever elect anyone, Philly is the great working-class Democratic stronghold of the big swing state that did go blue. Shouldn't we love these guys? So Rick Santorum is from Pennsylvania. No state is perfect.

Speaking of Democratic politics. The news is full of Edwards speculation, based largely on a speech he gave last week in New Hampshire. This is fine by me, in the sense that I'd love him to run again, but annoying, in the sense that premature Edwards speculation in the last election cycle failed to net him the nomination. It seems he is going to play it somewhat cool these next few months, as his wife treats her cancer and he teaches at UNC, but then I imagine he'll get back on the horse, reminding America who he is at every opportunity. Advice to Edwards: beat Bush over the head for his budget, which totally screws the poor to further enrich the rich, but also woo moderates by complementing that message with the fact that Bush is screwing everybody by running such big deficits. Rich or poor, Bush's red ink is going to cost you money.

Reporting from Washington, this is Ryan Avent.