http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07038/759895-192.stmThe $2.9 trillion budget that President Bush delivered to Congress on Monday was remarkable in two regards. First, it proposes to devote a growing amount of America's resources to military activities, as opposed to meeting Americans' needs. Second, if adopted it would push the country further into debt than it is already.
During World War II in France, as meat became harder to find in the market the government introduced a new dish, which it called horse and rabbit stew. The French people saw the irony of the ploy; the stew was characterized as consisting of one horse and one rabbit. So it is with Mr. Bush's new budget, which combines a major increase in defense spending and cuts in social programs that benefit the American people, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
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The basic question is whether Americans would prefer to pursue Mr. Bush's war in Iraq at $2.5 billion a week or to fund basic social services to Americans instead. To do both would run up what is already a breathtaking national debt of $8.7 trillion, financed in large part by U.S. borrowing from China, India and European nations.
Mr. Bush's promise that the U.S. budget will be in surplus several years after he has left office should not be taken seriously. By that time he will be clearing brush in Texas, reading in his library or entering exile in the Cayman Islands.
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