Free Republic

David Stockman, who was Republican Ronald Reagan's budget director from 1981 to 1985 and a key architect of tax-cutting policies, and Peter Orszag, budget director for Democratic President Barack Obama from January 2009 until July 2010, agreed the United States spends more on defense than is needed. Both also said the country would be well-served if better-off citizens paid more taxes and took smaller benefits from the government in their old age. But the two men, who appeared together at a Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event, were at odds over how quickly and forcefully the government should act to reduce the...

Last week, the Dow (DJI) and S&P 500 (^GSPC) both beat their all-time closing highs set back in 2007. In a Sunday New York Times op-ed, David Stockman, President Reagan’s budget director and former Republican Congressman, writes “instead of cheering, we should be very afraid.”