The serial mendacity that characterizes Washington is on full display in David Border’s column entitled “Without higher taxes, the national debt will be crushing.” Yes, this is the same David Broder who did not write columns about the threat of deficits and debt when politicians were bailing out their friends on Wall Street. Moreover, this is the same David Broder who did not fret about red ink when politicians were enacting a so-called stimulus. And this is the same David Broder who was peacefully oblivious to the long-term fiscal nightmare of Obamacare. But now that higher taxes are on the agenda, debt is somehow a crisis that must be addressed. Like Bernanke, Broder is part of the Washington establishment that thrives when more money is seized from the productive sector of the economy, so it is appropriate to always remember that his tired words reflect a statist agenda:
With every passing day, it is becoming clearer that next year the issue of paying for the government will be back at the center of political debate. There will be a head start on the discussion this summer or fall, because some of the expiring Bush tax cuts must be extended. But the hangover from the Great Recession and the lagging unemployment numbers will make it impossible to focus on improving the Internal Revenue Code. Come 2011, however, the demand to start dealing seriously with the overhang of deficits and debt threatening the nation’s future will become irresistible. …The forces converging to make taxes a top agenda item in 2011 can also make it a year of opportunity — if legislators and the president step up.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/09/AR2010040903717.html
