Fiscal restraint. Not.

They're spending like drunken sailors!

Rural air travel subsidies gain big boost

WASHINGTON (AP) - A much-criticized subsidy for rural air travel would get a budget increase of more than 40 percent under a spending bill unveiled in the House on Monday.

The legislation approved by a House Appropriations subcommittee would give $173 million in the upcoming budget year to the Essential Air Service, which provides subsidies to small airlines to fly unprofitable routes. That's a $53 million increase.

In many cases the flights are nearly empty. In other instances, such as flights between Buffalo Niagara International Airport and Jamestown, N.Y., just 76 miles away, it's quicker to drive than fly.

What will we do with a drunken sailor?...

Globe and Mail: Obama on the flying trapeze

Mr. Obama has taken the real crisis of the U.S. (and world) economy and used it as the screen and lever for a massive agenda of transformation, a transformation that calls for expenditures on a scale never before seen in the history of government on this planet.

WSJ: $1 Trillion Deficit Complicates Obama's Agenda
Annual Budget Gap Passed Benchmark in June, Dimming Outlook for Economic Recover and Appetite for Big-Ticket Policies

The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday said the government's annual deficit reached almost $1.1 trillion by the end of June, a once-unthinkable level that could threaten any nascent economic recovery by undermining the dollar and driving up interest rates.

Samuelson: The Consequences of Big Government

Political Math video: The National Debt Road Trip