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The New York Times, reporting on the negotiations between President Obama and Congressional Republicans over the stimulus package, revealed a remarkable comment by the House Minority Leader:“Mr. Boehner also complained that some spending in the current plans would be wasteful and not related to jump starting the economy. 'How you can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptive?' he asked. 'How does that stimulate the economy?'”
The short-sightedness of such a comment is breath-taking - especially coming from a conservative. Conservatives love to rail about abortion, unwed mothers, welfare and other government programs for poor families. Yet, it doesn’t occur to Mr. Boehner that contraception will lead to fewer unwanted pregnancies, which can lead to fewer abortions, as well as fewer families needing government assistance.
Incredibly, the Republicans’ solution is to push for more tax cuts. Somehow, it doesn’t occur to them to ask whether tax cuts stimulate the economy. Nobel-prize winning economists are skeptical of that claim.
