August 31, 2011
This true statement would have been much better than the sentence in an NYT article on whether disaster relief funding should be offset by other budget cuts that told readers:
“But with the federal debt now more than $14 trillion, the dialogue has shifted on Capitol Hill, and Republicans are under pressure to hold firm on spending.”
It’s not clear that the size of the debt is in any way requiring Republicans to “hold firm” on spending, apart from their own efforts to press the issue. The economic reality is that the debt is posing no problem whatsoever for the government in its efforts to borrow. Long-term interest rates are at the lowest level since the Great Depression.
Furthermore, the economy is in desperate need of additional stimulus. It would have also been reasonable to point out that the Republican efforts to cut other spending at a time when the economy is already suffering from 9.1 percent unemployment.
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