Political Comment

For some reason, a huge number of Americans buy into the canard that Democrats are spendthrifts, even though the evidence shows that to be largely untrue. In fact, just the opposite, Republican administrations pretty much always outspend their Democratic counterparts. The information in this article from The Atlantic, has been in circulation for years, but somehow it never seems to circulate more widely than among those likely to read magazines like The Atlantic (and that doesn't mean that The Atlantic only appeals to those of a particular political persuasion, but that it is aimed at an audience with better than fifth-grade reading capabilities). Some might say this is misleading because Congress authorizes spending, not the president, but that's only true with respect to process-- the chief executive is responsible for formulating and submitting a budget, and while its true Congress can add to it, the odds of creating a deficit increase considerably based on the president-approved starting point-- which tends to be top heavy with military allocations regardless of the administration. It sounds like some of the new arrivals in Washington are actually promising to look at that component of the federal budget, and I hope they follow through. But to be honest, I fully expect them to cave in to the same same bogus arguments that have worked to scuttle serious economic oversight of the Pentagon for generations (and in that regard, party affiliation seems irrelevant). Maybe if they all go back and read Dwight Eisenhower's farewell address, that might shake them up a bit.