Disingenuously yours

Houston Chronicle editorial:

In 2001, when President Bush took office, the national debt stood at a little less than $5.75 trillion. About the time of Cornyn's [speech against tax and spend] earlier this month, the debt passed $9 trillion, an increase of $3.25 trillion, or 56 percent.

One might note that 1 trillion of that deficit growth is due to inflation. Since the Chron appears to be criticizing Cornyn for cherry-picking facts, perhaps they should not cherry-pick facts themselves.

The conservative Heritage Foundation, decrying the debt, provided a handy illustration to help Americans grasp the enormity of how much we owe. The $9 trillion — $78,683 for every household — would buy: a quarter of the nation's 125 million houses; three new cars for every household; or one latte for every American every day for 21 years.

I love how the only time the Chron quotes a conservative thinktank is when it can be used to attack Republicans. But they are right, the debt is huge, and now consumes almost 10% of our federal budget -- more than half of what we spend on defense (17%)!

As Cornyn noted in his press release, Congress, at Bush's request, in 2001 and 2003 cut taxes significantly. Those tax cuts — in the same years the United States was attacked by al-Qaida and invaded unrelated Iraq — coincided with the steep climb of the national debt, the result of a policy of borrow and spend.

Economists peg the tax cuts at about 25% of the deficit growth. Why then, does the Chron choose to focus on tax cuts?

"Borrow and spend." I think I've heard that phrase before. Oh yeah, it's a Democratic talking point.

If Cornyn worries about spending, he need look no further than the senior U.S. senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison. Nearly every day, Hutchison's office announces grants and other funds she has secured for this state and the Houston area: for research at the University of Houston and Rice University; for improved regional security; for police training; for mass transit in Houston and Galveston; for training minority leaders in math, science and military technology, at the expense of the Air Force, etc.

If Cornyn worries about spending, Kay Bailey's pork barrel is probably the last thing he should worry about, given what a tiny percentage pork barrel spending is of the federal budget. However, the spending that is worth worrying about is all social spending; the Chron editorial board tends to favor that.

This was a very confused and disjointed editorial (even moreso than the parts I quoted). It only seems to make sense to me if the Chron wanted to obliquely attack Cornyn and Bush.

Posted by Evan @ 09/23/07 06:29 PM

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