The Wanker Caucus

Although given my particular hobbyhorses I might have preferred a little more emphasis on the structural issues with the Senate, in his defense Chait’s article really does a superb job of pointing out just how farcical the Very Serious Centrist Democrats are. Lots of good stuff, including Democratic collaboration with the ridiculous student loan subsidy, but I liked this most:

What’s maddening is not that Obama’s budget is a perfect document–though it does a better job of setting priorities than any presidential budget in at least the last 30 years–but that the deficit-reducing measures Democrats object to are the most sensible parts of the budget.

Take the farm payments Conrad endorses. It is virtually impossible to find an economist on the left, right, or center who defends agriculture subsidies, which are costly, distort the market, and hurt the Third World poor. Obama does not dare phase out crop subsidies. Instead, he modestly asks to save about $1 billion per year by eliminating payments to farmers who gross more than $500, 000 per year–the least justifiable slice of a totally unjustifiable program. Conrad the Deficit Hawk, joined by other farm-state senators (such as Nebraska’s Ben Nelson) and representatives, cannot abide it.

Or consider Obama’s plan to limit tax deductions for the rich. If your goal is to raise revenue without imposing pain on the middle class or unduly harming incentives, this is about the best way one can do it. (Because limiting deductions would not raise marginal tax rates, objections from conservative economists have been generally muted.) Democrats in both chambers have declared this proposal dead on arrival. But, if they want to reduce the deficit and fund health care reform, the money needs to come from somewhere.

And what’s amazing is that to Fred Hiatt et al. these clowns represent the ultimate in High Principle. And, come to think of it, they do reflect Fred Hiatt’s principles very well…