Yglesias Award Nominee

“Reducing and eliminating needless spending and programs are appropriate, but a wholesale reduction in spending, without considering economic, cultural, and social impacts is simply irresponsible. We must also be mindful that many of the proposed spending reductions would disproportionately affect the neediest among us, including housing and heating assistance,” Brown said. “Likewise, some of the proposed cuts would be economically counterproductive, negatively impacting our ability to innovate and invest in research and development,” - Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

The answer is obvious: trim, not slash, current discretionary spending, and set out a long term plan to cut entitlements and defense. That avoids sucking demand out of the economy as the recovery gathers steam, and could restore business confidence in the future much more effectively than grandstanding over NPR.