Free Republic

The latest push by Democrats and the establishment media to repair President Joe Biden’s standing with the American public on economic issues improbably attempts to crown the president with the laurel of fiscal responsibility. In remarks at the White House Wednesday, Biden plans to claim credit for deficit reduction and pat himself on the back because the federal government will likely shrink the national debt this quarter. That will be the first quarter in six years the government has paid down some debt. This is part of the scramble to create some positive economic news ahead of the midterm elections.

Benjamin Franklin famously observed that, “Nothing in life is certain except death and taxes.” Were he in California today, with all the empty hype from embryonic stem cell researchers and quack cloners eroding the public’s belief in the inevitability of death, he might have opined instead, “Nothing in life is certain except debt and taxes.” With $5.2 billion in unanticipated revenue swelling state coffers, and “gridlock” in danger of becoming California’s new state motto, Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing increased spending on health, education, and $68 billion in bonds over 10 years to build roads, levees, schools, prisons, and courthouses. To...