My Last Post Ever on Starve the Beast...

...that is, until I decide differently.

Andrew Samwick on fiscal policy: How To Advise on Fiscal Policy:

The overriding problem in conducting fiscal policy is that politicians, in both the executive and legislative branches, face electoral pressure to please their current constituencies. It is extremely tempting for them to boost spending or lower taxes today, handing out windfalls to today's voters and leaving an unrepresented constituency--future taxpayers--to foot the bill.

Traditional political thinking posits that there are two camps - fiscal liberals that want to increase the size of government and fiscal conservatives that want to decrease the size of government. Recent "conservative" governments in both the United States and Canada show that type of thinking for the myth it is.

Rather, there are two camps - the "live for the day" types that offer unfinanced tax cuts and spending hikes at the expense of future generations, and fiscally responsible politicians that take the long view. Unfortunately the second camp is all too small.