Conservatives Would Choke Economic Recovery With A Tightened Belt

The Freudian slip in a quote from House Minority Leader John Boehner to CBS News—"it's time for government to tighten their belts"—inadvertently reveals something of the Republican mindset about the role of government, for it is us who will be strangled by the belt that conservatives say they want to tighten.

The reality is that in this fiscal emergency asking government to spend less on programs that will rebuild our schools, roads and other public facilities; set the stage for universal health care; help states prevent layoffs of thousands of public servants and prepare the country for a new energy future is simply wrongheaded. With the country on the verge of a depression and the downturn going global, consumers are cutting back, businesses are laying off workers, state and local governments are facing severe budget cuts. It is precisely at this time when the federal government—and governments around the world—must spend more money to lift the economy, and put people back to work.