An Opinion Sure to Produce Even More Opinions

From the New York Times Opinionator:

“The budget that President Obama proposed on Thursday is nothing less than an attempt to end a three-decade era of economic policy dominated by the ideas of Ronald Reagan and his supporters.” So wrote The Times’s David Leonhardt in Friday’s paper, and it’s hard to disagree. Leonhardt continues:

More than anything else, the proposals seek to reverse the rapid increase in economic inequality over the last 30 years. They do so first by rewriting the tax code and, over the longer term, by trying to solve some big causes of the middle-class income slowdown, like high medical costs and slowing educational gains.

After Mr. Obama spent much of his first five weeks in office responding to the financial crisis, his budget effectively tried to reclaim momentum for the priorities on which he campaigned.

His efforts would add to a budget deficit already swollen by Mr. Bush’s policies and the recession, creating the largest deficit, relative to the size of the economy, since World War II. Erasing that deficit will require some tough choices — about further spending cuts and tax increases — that Mr. Obama avoided this week.

So the revolution has come. Now, will it bring a new égalité, or will we simply lose our heads?

The One Minute Wonk thinks some heads might be exploding out there (figure of speech, btw). So give us your opinion.

February 28, 2009 • Posted in: Politics

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