‘Slash-and-Burn’? Yeah, More of That!

Posted on | February 18, 2011 | 14 Comments

The New York Times editorial page would have you believe that House Republicans are out of control:

Are there any adults in charge of the House? Watching this week’s frenzied slash-and-burn budget contest, we had to conclude the answer to that is no.
First Speaker John Boehner’s Republican leadership proposed cutting the rest of the 2011 budget by $32 billion. But that wasn’t enough for his fanatical freshmen, who demanded that it be cut by $61 billion, destroying vital government programs with gleeful abandon.
Even that wasn’t enough for leaders of the hard-line Republican Study Committee, which represents two-thirds of House Republicans. They proposed cutting another $20 billion, for a ludicrous total of $81 billion, all out of the next seven months of government operations. . . .
If the Republicans got their way, it would wreak havoc on Americans’ lives and national security.

OK, let’s talk about that “ludicrous total of $81 billion,” shall we? On Monday, President Obama sent Congress a budget that included a $1.65 trillion deficit. Let me do a little math here — um, let’s see, wait a minute — well, according to my own calculations, $81 billion is a mere 4.9% of the deficit.

If it’s “slash-and-burn” to reduce the deficit by less than five percent — if that “would wreak havoc” — what’s the New York Times going to call it if they ever actually balance the budget? Armageddon?

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