Please excuse the temporary diversion into politiblogdom. But to back up my previous post on fiscal irresponsibility, here’s an excerpt from Fortune Magazine (the author, Doug Bandow, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute):

But the biggest impetus for higher spending is partisan uniformity, not partisan identity. Give either party complete control of government, and the Treasury vaults are quickly emptied. Neither Congress nor the President wants to tell the other no. Both are desperate to prove they can “govern” – which means creating new programs and spending more money. But share power between parties, and out of principle or malice they check each other.