More on Spending Freeze

From Nate Silver:

I'll let the economists talk about the wisdom of curtailing government spending in the middle of a massive consumption deficit, but what concerns me more is the politics. Specifically, the sort of cognitive dissonance that is going to be created in the mind of the average voter when the White House is promising to freeze spending on the one hand (or, more accurately, this will be the media caricature of their gambit), and on the other, trying to defend its stimulus and its health care reform package, trying to excuse the bailout package as a necessary evil, and perhaps trying to champion new programs.

Ok, I know I am not the average voter, tending to lean right on matters of fiscal policy, but from a purely spectator point of view, I can't wait to see how the White House justifies the "dissonance" as Silver calls it.

The spending freeze simply isn't going to be able to do much, we are talking pennies on the dollar of the overall fedeal budget. But at the same time, I do think that Obama needs to be at least partially congratulated for at least thinking about the current fiscal policy and what is sure to be its deleterious effects on the economy, the future and the fiscal health of our country.