Is Everybody at the American Enterprise Institute in Thrall to Their Tea-Party Political Masters?
Come on now: let's see somebody do some internal pushback on things like this!
Abby McCloskey: Debt limit faceoff:
In the next 25 years, federal debt held by the public will reach 100% of GDP, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This is unsustainable. Congressional Republicans (and the majority of Americans) want budgetary reforms attached to the debt limit increase. President Obama has framed these demands as unprecedented and irresponsible. But that’s simply not true.
Kevin Hassett and Abby McCloskey write in the WSJ:
Republicans who want legislative conditions in exchange for a debt-limit increase are following a strategy that has been pursued by both parties the majority of the time.” The debt limit has been changed 53 times since 1978, 27 of those times it’s been paired with other legislative items. Most recently, the debt limit was used to achieve $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction. In this partisan environment, the debt limit is one of the few impetuses to get both parties to the table for serious budget negotiations. Entitlement reform is needed to maintain the full faith and credibility of the US into the future.
Come on guys! You can't all be hacks, can you?
