Apparently nostalgic for recession, more than 100 House Republicans have proposed to cut federal spending by $550 billion in 2012. The Republican Study Committee (RSC) doesn’t ever quite say this is their plan, but it is. One hardly knows where to begin.
This is an amazing number. It implies a 15 percent reduction in government spending in a single year—in the midst of a weak economy with unemployment that exceeds 9 percent. It is an austerity budget of historic proportions. Just to compare, the United Kingdom is moving to cut spending by 20 percent over four years. The House Republican budget devised by Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) would cut 2012 spending by about 3 percent or $110 billion. The RSC would make Ryan look like a crazed liberal. Of course, that may be the idea.
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