[familyofman]

"The only good thing about deficits is that deficits RESTRICT THE FURTHER GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT.."
Ok, if your contention is accurate, please give examples to support your position. Or, are you talking only in theoretical terms - which is what almost all economic discussions are. No one likes to confuse a good debate with facts.
Why not reduce spending when there is a deficit? We can also reduce various tax incentives, like the new & improved Senate tax-cut bill is proposing. List of possible cuts: oil depletion allowance; all farm subsidies; require payment for water supplied to desert states; discontinue accelerated depreciation; eliminate preferential treatment to executive compensation; eliminate tax-deductibilty of donations.....add your own (NEA, CPB, Amtrak, airline bailouts).

[keithtoo]

Yes, we'd all like the government to first and foremost decrease spending when there is a deficit. History tells a different story.

If you'll remember during the 80's, their were no MAJOR spending initiatives by the Dim's because they knew that the deficit was too big and too much on everyone's mind.

At the end of the 90's however, everything from prescription drug programs, to new spending on education (at the Fed level) and socialized health insurance was on the table. It was a race to see who could spend the 'surplus' the quickest.