Obama: Fiscal Situation "Untenable"

You don't say, Mr. President.

In a nutshell, the anointed one said:

"I realize that we're facing an untenable fiscal situation. There was a $1.3 trillion deficit staring at me when I took office, and although the economic crisis and the steps we took to stop the free fall temporarily added to our fiscal challenges, it's clear that we're going to have to get serious about the deficit.

And that's why I've proposed a three-year freeze on non-security discretionary spending. That's why I've launched a bipartisan deficit reduction commission, which will be reporting in a few months."

Keen government observers know what's coming next: The big "but":

"What I won't do is cut back on investments like education that are directly related to our long-term economic performance. Now is not the time to sacrifice our competitive edge in the global economy."

A-ha. Because nothing says "competitive edge" like "doubling spending while failing to improve results."

Note what the news reports probably won't, that A) this was a meeting of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, B) the first 10 paragraphs of his remarks were about "maintain[ing] our commitment to education," particularly strengthening community colleges, and C) there was zero discussion, in the long ensuing Q&A with the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, about concretely addressing this "untenable fiscal situation." There was tons of talk about home weatherization, though.

There you have it. The 47 smartest economists around the president of the United States agree that the best way to solve the "untenable fiscal situation" is to boost education spending, weatherize homes, throw more bad money after bad in the housing market, more bad money after bad in the Small Business Administration, and maybe (though only over the president's dead body) freeze all taxes for two years. Now, that oughtta make it tenable!

We are in deep trouble folks.