Stan Collender on McCain's balanced budget pledge:

Please Don't Promise To Balance The Budget | Capital Gains and Games

The candidate's pledge to balance the budget by 2013 repeats the Snow mistake by again refusing to acknowledge that budget policy should fit the economy. Reducing or eliminating the deficit should never be promised in a vacuum. In 2013, the U.S. economic situation might well require an increased deficit, a substantial surplus or something in between. In July 2008, neither the candidate nor anyone else has a clue as to what the correct fiscal policy will be four and a half years from now. That makes the pledge to produce a balanced budget political pandering rather than good economics.

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But as Hoover discovered, and as counterintuitive as it sounds, promising to balance the federal budget, no matter the situation, is actually the fiscally irresponsible position.

Pandering budget | Posted July 16, 2008 12:00 AM by John Irons