Kevin Drum: If you want to cut spending, raise taxes.
Bruce goes on to look at the empirical evidence  namely that spending went down after the Clinton tax increases and up after the Bush tax cuts  and concludes that STB [Starve the Beast] is a "crackpot theory." True! But what makes it even more crackpotty is that basic economic principles, of the kind that Republicans are endlessly lecturing the rest of us about, predict the same thing. If you raise taxes to pay for government programs, you're essentially making them expensive. Conversely, if you cut taxes, you're making government spending cheaper. So what does Econ 101 say happens when you reduce the price of something? Answer: demand for it goes up.
Cutting taxes makes government spending less expensive for taxpayers, which makes them want more of it. And politicians, obliging creatures that they are, are eager to give the people what they want. Result: lots of spending and lots of deficits.
If you want to reduce spending, the best way to do it is to raise taxes so that registered voters actually have to pay for the services they get. I don't have a cute name for this theory, but it's true nonetheless. Even for Republicans.
Sloganeering can go too far, and I'm suspicious of them because they're shortcuts for deep thinking, but it would be good if someone on the Democratic side would construct a few soundbites like these to combat the Conventional Wisdom once in a while....
What do I mean that "sloganeering can go too far"? Well, ultimately, as (IIRC) Milton Friedman said, "to spend is to tax". Ultimately, if money is spent then money has to be raised to pay for it. If you have to pay for something with borrowed money, then it costs more than paying in cash (interest). There are exceptions, of course, that apply for the economy as a whole (aggregate demand, unemployment, etc., etc.), but it used to be that people in public life understood that. IOW, cutting taxes doesn't reduce spending. Raising taxes doesn't increase spending. Spending more increases spending. If you want to cut spending, then cut spending. Don't mess with the tax code - it only has an indirect effect on spending (mainly through interest rates and reduced interest payments).
Cheers,
Scott.