Spending Freeze

President Obama has listened to the "deficit hawks" (the same group of clowns who had their mouths welded shut during the Bush Administration) and has proposed a spending freeze on non-military discretionary spending for three years.

This is a terrible idea. Look at this chart (from Calculated Risk) of unemployment rates during the Depression:

(Click on the chart to enlarge it)

Note the spike in the unemployment rate in 1937. That occurred when FDR listened to the deficit hawks of his day and scaled back Federal spending. It took three to four years for the economy to recover from that move.

Unemployment is still stubbornly high. State governments are slashing employment and programs, which only makes things worse. This is exactly the wrong time to be listening to the deficit hawks. Cutting discretionary spending and pulling back from stimulating the economy makes the conservatives happy, but when it comes to economic matters, when have they been correct on anything?

Paul Krugman calls the idea of a spending freeze a capitulation to the economic theories of George W. Bush.

Heckuvajob, Barry.