Weekend Editorial Roundup

Here are the highlights from this weekend’s editorials on fiscal and budget policy:

• In an editorial titled, “2.47 trillion dimes,” The Washington Post discusses the Medicare payment formula “fiscal time bomb.” The editorial calls out the Finance Committee for only patching this payment for one year (at a cost of $11 billion) and leaving the rest of the problem to be dealt with later. The Post says “A president who says that he is serious about dealing with the dire fiscal picture cannot credibly begin by charging this one to the national credit card, with no concern for the later generations who will have to pay the bill.”
• Paul Krugman wrote an op-ed in The New York Times, “The Banks Are Not All Right,” stating that banks in the business of lending are still in trouble. In it he questions the shift in Larry Summers’ rhetoric, pointing out that Summers was one of the architects of the Administration’s banking policies, yet now is a “thundering bank critic.”
• The Financial Times ran an op-ed by Mort Zuckerman discussing how unemployment is rising, and there is no evidence of job creation. He mentions how around half of all unemployed do not qualify for unemployment benefits, and recommends “massive [programs,]” to meet the challenge of restoring stable growth to the economy.
• In an editorial titled “Oh, That Account,” The New York Times discusses how the administration is introducing more equality into the tax code by looking into wealth held in offshore tax shelters. The editorial calls on Congress to “swiftly pass tax-related legislation wrapped into President Obama’s 2010 budget.”