Academic

YOU WANT A ?SPUTNIK MOMENT?? HERE?S YOUR FREAKIN? SPUTNIK MOMENT: US Budget Deficit to Pass $1.5 T?

By Glenn Reynolds

YOU WANT A “SPUTNIK MOMENT?” HERE’S YOUR FREAKIN’ SPUTNIK MOMENT: US Budget Deficit to Pass $1.5 Trillion This Year.

See, the thing about Sputnik was that it was really scary, because it meant the country was in danger — if the Russians could put a satellite overhead, they could put an H-bomb on New York in 20 minutes. That’s why we responded with a big change in how we did business.

This is really scary too. Where’s the serious response? And no, more of the same doesn’t count. A 5% across the board spending cut — real year-over-year cutting, not a cut against projected growth — would only barely begin to count as serious. Freezes and other flimflams don’t count at all.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on January 26, 2011 (boomark / email).