The Price of Steel(e)

Not to beat a dead horse to death, as State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler once said, but I'm going back to Republican National Chairman Michael Steele's "Health Contract" with seniors, which I discussed yesterday ("Geezers In the Crosshairs - Not").  Today, Steven Pearlstein points out another interesting feature of what Steele proposed -- namely that by committing Republicans to stand by Medicare and other expensive programs without cuts, he's really mortgaging the country's future, potentially leaving the national treasury with no discretionary funds at all. 

It's a valid point, as it highlights the GOP's recent resort to a rather strange, even phantasmagorical, policy on fiscal matters:    (1) When in power, bankrupt the country with a needless war and turn a blind eye to abuses in the financial system;  (2) When out of power, suddenly discover fiscal responsibility - we can't implement what the voters voted for, because gosh, we're broke!

President Clinton eliminated the deficit after a decade of mindless Republican spending. We can do it again; the new deficits are only a fraction of what Bush 2 left us with, and just as no one supposed Clinton could really eliminate the deficit within 6 years, resumed growth in the economy (more tax revenues, more employment, a better economic picture) can result in their being reduced much more quickly than any of the  current estimates suggest.

The concealed trap in Steele's approach is to focus on a few trillion in deficit now, while ignoring the elephant in the room, the burgeoning costs of health care that will make us a financial basket case if we don't deal with it now.  Everyone (except apparently Republican thinkers) knows the principle of investing a smaller amount, even when it's difficult, to prevent much higher future costs. It's a lot like patching that little leak in your roof, before it can magnify into much more serious damage.