It's clear from the debates and the campaign trail that neither President Bush nor Sen. Kerry has a comprehensive plan to limit budget spending. Kerry has committed to roughly $2.5 trillion in new spending, which he will be disappointed to learn will not be covered by his $600 billion to $800 billion worth of tax-hike proposals. Moreover, slower economic growth under a higher-tax economic policy will throw off fewer tax revenues. In short, the Kerry plan looks like a super budget-buster.
Bush has a number of spending proposals himself, especially for health care and education. Then there is the as-yet-unknowable spending necessary to finance national security in the global war against radical Islamist terrorism.
But the interesting fact to come out of the new budget numbers is that neither spending nor deficits are as bad as the critics have warned. Most in the fraternity of so-called Washington budget experts never acknowledge this, but a low-tax, high-growth economy, coupled with budget spending limits, is what will move us back to balance in the years ahead.
Spending aside, this has been the Bush plan all along. Over time, you have to believe that a Republican president acting with GOP majorities in the House and Senate will move toward at least some measurable budget restraint.
There's no question that clear budget policy rules to limit federal spending would be wise pro-growth policy. Nor is there any question that entire departments, agencies, commissions, and unworkable and overlapping programs should be abolished in a thoroughgoing federal government restructuring. Corporations have done this time and again over the past two decades. Why can't Uncle Sam?