Don't Know Much About History (NYT)

don't know much about long division

the deficit as a percentage of the GDP is the number saying what the economy can support

the deficit of two countries separately is the sum of the deficits of the two countries together, yet it's the same percentage either way, and the same adequacy either way.

so mentally divide the US into East and West.

each has a deficit half as big. should it be alarming?

you don't know. you have to divide, to get a percentage. then you know.

similarly you have to divide in the case of a growing economy of a single country, to get this percentage indicator of health.

the left wants higher taxes (``smaller deficit'') to support yet more spending that they control, which is easier to swing than lower spending (``mean spirited'') to do the same thing.

another unmentioned but vital effect, that there's a tax rate that produces the maximum revenue, and if we're below it, raising taxes raises revenue, and if we're above it, raising taxes reduces revenue. no liberal will accommodate this in their argument, because it introduces side effects. side effects are fatal to liberals.

conservatives are about side effects. that's why they're mostly reformed liberals.

it doesn't go the other way, except for cases of senile demential.

To imply that the current budget gap is comfortably within historical norms because it's not as bad as the worst deficits in modern memory is, to put it politely, a stretch.