Kent “Deficit Hawk” Conrad: Deficit Spending Is “Critically Important” For The economy

Senator Kent Conrad, North Dakota’s self-declared “deficit hawk,” wants to be clear about the deficits in the budget of the President he supported and helped get elected.
As clear as mud, that is.

The Democratic chairman of the Senate Budget Committee said he is a skeptic of President Barack Obama’s long-term budget plan.
Sen. Kent Conrad (N.D.) told White House officials Tuesday that the nation can’t accept the budget’s projected deficits at the end of this decade, which approach $1 trillion.
“We are on an unsustainable course by any measure,” Conrad said during his committee’s first hearing on the administration’s 2011 budget request.
“I believe the president is taking us in the right direction over the next several years,” he added. “But I must say I am very concerned about the long term.” …
Conrad was more supportive of the administration’s plan to run large deficits while the economy is still struggling. The budget calls for a total of $3.8 trillion in spending in 2011. That would produce a deficit of almost $1.6 trillion next year and $1.3 trillion in 2012. Those are due in large part to the high level of unemployment, which is pushing down tax revenue and increased spending on unemployment benefits and other safety-net spending.
Conrad warned against “premature deficit reduction,” arguing that it was “critically important” to use deficit spending to help spur a weak economy.

So we’re “on an unsustainable course by any measure,” But the massive deficits being run up by Obama right now are ok. Because in order to rescue the economy, the government simply must put huge amounts of new debt on the national credit card.
I mean, isn’t that how you do it in your household? If you’re losing money, don’t work harder and make more money or cut back on spending. Go on a shopping spree with the credit card! Sure you’ll have to pay it off eventually, but in the mean time you’ll be stimulating your household economy.
Conrad’s deficit stance in a nutshell: “Deficits are ok as long as they’re run up by a guy on my side of the political aisle.”