Timing is everything when it comes to the deficit

Truth Dig, in its Ear to the Ground feature, remarks on some recent polls that show Americans concerned about the deficit and questioning whether Barack Obama has it in him to control spending. The danger is that polls like this could create a sort of backward momentum at a time when government intervention in the economy — specifically, government money priming hte pump — is needed and reform of health care and programs to address climate change need to move forward.

With mounting pressure at home and abroad to cut the budget, Obama’s ambitious health care plans could be headed for the rocks. Too bad we already blew a few trillion on wars and banks. We could have used that money for something useful, as it turns out.

Which brings me to an important point: Deficits are not necessarily bad, so long as the deficits and debt are used for productive purposes (schools, health care, mass transit improvements) and not for wars and tax cuts to people who do not need tax cuts. What I’m getting at is that the obsession with deficits that has cropped up now is misplaced and raises a question: Where was this obsession during the Bush years, when the Republican warmonger racked up record deficits?

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet