Republican thrift unwise and ill-timed

[babylonsister]

Republican thrift unwise and ill-timed

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CYNTHIA TUCKER
Sunday, January 11, 2009


What a difference a president makes.

With Barack Obama set to take the Oval Office soon, Republicans have rediscovered the inner thrift they buried during the eight years of President Bush’s tenure and six years of a GOP-dominated Congress. With the president-elect outlining his plan for an enormous (and desperately needed) economic stimulus package, Republican leaders, along with a few Democrats, have begun protesting that it costs too much.

Although many noted economists have recommended a spending bill in the trillion-dollar range, House Minority Leader John Boehner was quick to oppose that price tag.

“An $800 billion-to-$1 trillion package, on top of the deficit we already have, you’re adding an awful lot of weight to the debt,” he said last week, adding, “You can’t buy prosperity with more government spending.”

Never mind that many economists say that you can. Never mind that for six free-spending years, the Republican majority rarely met a pork barrel project its members didn’t like or a budget plan that was too costly for their tastes.

But now that a Democrat is set to take the helm and millions of average Americans need help with health insurance or heating bills or groceries, the GOP suddenly worries about spending too much money. Now that experts are recommending Keynesian spending to avert a second Great Depression, Boehner and his cohorts can’t tolerate massive deficits.

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

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http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2009/01/11/cynthia_tucker.html