According to The Times today, Obama's stimulus plan will include $300 billion in tax cuts -- 40 percent or so of the total. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that. But viewed in context of the tax policy of the last decade, it's clearly unsustainable for both parties to propose tax cuts in times of surplus, deficit, recession, and expansion. That, however, is what we're seeing. Tax cuts were the center of Bush's economic policy when he ran amidst a massive surplus, then became his answer to the 2001 recession. Tax cuts were the center of Obama's domestic policy during the election and have only grown in importance as the economy has bottomed out. But you can't cut taxes in good times and in bad times and fund a government. That's not to say the cuts aren't needed right now. Maybe they weren't needed before, but are needed now. It's a case where reality neatly aligned itself with Obama's preexisting policy promises. But we can't go on this way indefinitely.
