The New York Times editorial writer(s) say that what the Republicans are proposing to cut from the federal budget will not help the economy but will, in fact, hurt it. And it does make sense: You don't help bring down high unemployment by causing hundreds of thousands of people to lose their jobs.
While you're over there, Frank Rich has a good column about how Republicans really aren't serious about bringing down the deficit. They're just using that as an excuse to cut the kinds of programs they always want to cut, regardless of how good or bad the economy is. He notes, "That's not to say there is no fiscal mission in the right's agenda, both nationally and locally — only that the mission has nothing to do with deficit reduction. The real goal is to reward the G.O.P.'s wealthiest patrons by crippling what remains of organized labor, by wrecking the government agencies charged with regulating and policing corporations, and, as always, by rewarding the wealthiest with more tax breaks." I wish America was paying a tenth as much attention to this kind of thing as they are to Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen. Why are their personal dysfunctions so much more interesting than those of our elected officials?