Still clueless about debt

No, not the lawmakers - the people who elected them. And it's happening at all levels of government (witness the pandering on the City Council). As NYT columnist Dave Leonhardt notes, voters want it all.

We're in favor of Medicare, Social Security, good schools, wide highways, a strong military -- and low taxes. Dealing with this disconnect will be the central economic issue of the next decade, in Europe, Japan and this country. Many people, including some who claim to be outraged by the deficit, still haven't acknowledged the disconnect. Just last weekend, Tea Party members helped deny Senator Robert Bennett, the Utah Republican, his party's nomination for his re-election campaign, in part because he had co-sponsored a health reform plan with a Democratic senator. Economists generally think the plan would have done more to reduce Medicare spending than the bill that passed. So, whatever its intentions, the Tea Party effectively punished Mr. Bennett for not being a big enough fan of big government.

As I posted yesterday, Americans paid out, percentage wise, less in taxes last year than at any time since 1950.