Can Washington Meet the Demand to Cut Spending?

Timing is everything.


But this is an interesting time. It's easy to say that concern about federal spending is old, because it is. It's at least as old as Robert Taft, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. But the national anxiety about spending that we're experiencing now, and that is showing up in the polls, is new. The past eight years have concentrated the American mind. George W. Bush's spending, the crash and Barack Obama's spending have frightened people. It's not just "cranky right-wingers" who are concerned. If it were, the president would not have appointed his commission. Its creation acknowledges that independents are anxious, the center is alarmed—the whole country is. The people are ahead of their representatives in Washington, who are stuck in the ick of old ways. 

 Instead of cutting spending, Obama wants a commission to study the concept of cutting spending which is a concept totally alien to politicians in DC. The commission will spend a lot of money to figure out how we can cut back on spending and will eventually recommend a permanent cabinet post - Secretary of Spending - who will be in charge of the Department of Spending.