One reason it will be so difficult for Congress to balance the budget is left-of-center intransigence over cutting domestic spending and entitlements. (Right-of-center politicians are intransigent about some issues, too, but this column isn’t about them.) One reason that deficit doves persist in the delusion that things really aren’t so bad is that a cadre of pundits works assiduously to persuade them that budget hawks are in the grip of “deficit hysteria.” Among the more influential is Ezra Klein, Washington Post blogger and habitué of MSNBC cable news shows.
Klein, a cheerleader for the Obama administration’s relentless expansion of government, retains a touching faith in the blessings of the leviathan state, although he does have to work a bit harder these days to maintain his optimism. Worry over the size and intractability of U.S. deficits is only partly the result of “deficit fear mongering,” he concedes. There is legitimate reason for concern. But there also are reasons, he insisted in a blog post yesterday, to take heart. He lists three.
