Pay-As-You-Go

When the Democrats retook control of Congress about a year ago, they made a lot of noise about re-instituting Pay-As-You-Go (also called PayGo) rules for budgets - no defecit-increasing measures would be passed without corresponding tax increases and/or spending cuts.

In talking about a $150+ billion spending package for the economy, I haven't heard even a whisper of this. It's why, as upset as I am with Republicans for defecit spending, I don't trust the Democrats for it one iota more.

What I do trust, generally, is the ability of mixed-party Legislative and Executive leadership to be so at odds with each other that the financial gravy train is generally pretty weak when it leaves the station. Someone might want to talk to the Democrats in the Senate about the meaning of "compromise." It's not "let everyone come to a deal they feel is balanced and then increase it by $20 billion so you feel important." (Even though I think extending unemployment benefits is a useful economic stimulus, far beyond the efficacy and efficiency of simply giving everyone a check.)