Word: fiscal
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...gored some Democratic oxen. It would be nice if he, say, challenged the teachers' unions, which didn't support him anyway and whose work rules choke out any chance of creative experimentation in the public-school system. Or if he stood against the atrocious Farm Bill, which spreads unnecessary fiscal fertilizer upon an already profitable industry. Or if he didn't feel the need to promise a tax cut to 95% of American families...
...fair, the administration has some severe constraints on its ability to use fiscal and monetary tools to stimulate growth. Government debt stands at a whopping 160% of GDP, so the country can't readily spend its way back to prosperity. Cut interest rates? Not when the Bank of Japan's policy rate already stands at 0.5%. Still, Fukuda and his newly appointed Cabinet ministers have options...
...First of all, the government needs to reconsider its commitment to balance the budget by 2011. While laudable during a period of growth, setting a rigid deadline for fiscal consolidation makes less sense when revenues are falling due to a slumping economy. Cutting spending now to reduce the budget deficit will only make a recession worse. This does not mean Tokyo should return to its failed policies of the 1990s by spending freely on wasteful construction projects and subsidies to special-interest groups. It means only that the government should accept modest deterioration of its balance sheet during an economic...
...right: sarcasm comes naturally to the fighter jock. He disdains all those - his colleagues in the Senate, his political opponents - who aren't as courageous as he thinks he is. But McCain has proved a selective maverick, surrounded by special-interest lobbyists who shape his foreign and fiscal policies. In fact, I suspect that this year's McCain is closer to the real thing than the noble 2000 version. This one is congenitally dark, the opposite of Reagan - not confident enough in the substance of his ideas, especially on domestic policy, to run a campaign that features them. Instead...
Instead, Obama accuses McCain of running for a third Bush term, a message that is resonating with some fiscal conservatives like Hecimovich. "McCain, he'd be a good military leader, but I don't know as far as running the economy," Hecimovich says as he balances his little boy Sam on the lunch table. "It's hard to say at this point who'd handle the economy better." Then his wife Debbie leans over, steadying Sam, and almost under her breath adds, "We need change, so whoever's going to make the biggest change...