Finding the Good in the 'Good Old Days'

By Sam Pizzigati

Created 02/13/2011 - 10:44am

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It’s federal budget time, and they’re talking 1950s on Capitol Hill. Well, sometimes we can move forward by turning the political clock back. But we have to know exactly where to stop.

Last week, in a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President Obama pledged [1] that the federal budget he unveils this week will take “domestic discretionary spending down to the lowest share of our economy since Eisenhower was President.”

No one in the Chamber audience cheered, mainly because Chamber types don't trust Obama when he talks budget cuts. But the rest of us shouldn't be cheering either. If we're going to be heading back to the Eisenhower era, we have much better options for what we ought to be trying to emulate.