Against the Pledge

The communists at the Financial Times are not big fans of the Republican ‘Pledge to America’: “In numerical terms, the $320bn the party has specified in spending cuts over the next decade is dwarfed by the $4,000bn in tax cuts that it promises — all on top of the current double digit budget deficit… If the polls are right, the Republicans are on course to capture the House on November 2. At their head are leaders who voted for every spending measure George W. Bush requested, including the unfunded $600bn expansion of prescription drugs for seniors, which was probably the most egregious instance of corporate welfare in modern US history, as well as the unfunded $260bn highways bill that included the infamous ‘bridge to nowhere’… Like the Bourbons, they appear to have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.” [Registration required]