Shades of Red

Now what are we all to do
When the money's got a hold on you?
--Simply Red

The House Budget Committee headed by Paul Ryan has released its latest budget proposal. Like previous proposals, spending is not cut. Instead, the rate of spending increase is set below the Obama administration's budget such that, given some generous assumptions about things like economic growth, tax revenues, state of the world, etc, the budget might theoretically balance 10 years from now.

Anyone with the faintest sense of history, much less capacity for reason, knows that the likelihood of achieving federal budget balance 10 years from now (i.e., 2.5 presidencies and 5 congresses in the future) is zero--particularly given our field position.

Similar to its behavior over the tiny cuts of the recent 'sequester,' the Left's reaction to this modest budget approaches hysteria. The Huffington Post index page headline associated with this article read "FULL EXTREME AHEAD."

The difference between two shades of red is often only discernible when the colors are placed next to each other.