Today is brought to you by the word...

Pathological (adj.):
Of, relating to, or manifesting behavior that is habitual, maladaptive, and compulsive.

But as I've said, in the long run, we can't continue to spend as if deficits don't have consequences; as if waste doesn't matter; as if the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like Monopoly money. That's what we've seen time and time again. Washington has been more concerned about the next election than the next generation.

And in other news today…

Spelling out painful priorities, President Barack Obama urged Congress on Monday to quickly approve a huge new shot of spending for recession relief and job creation, part of a record $3.8 trillion budget that would boost the deficit beyond any in the nation's history while only slowly beginning to put Americans back to work.

If Congress goes along with Obama's election-year plan, the nation would still end the year with unemployment pushing double digits at 9.8 percent and this year's pool of government red ink deepening to $1.56 trillion — by the administration's accounting.

The spending blueprint for next year calls for tax cuts for workers and business and more aid for cash-starved state governments as well as the unemployed. The jobs initiative largely mirrors last year's stimulus bill, but is about one-third its size. The president is asking for nearly $300 billion for recession relief and job stimulus.

The budget paints a remarkably dire picture of a federal government that will have to borrow one-third of what it spends next year as it runs a deficit that still would total some $1.3 trillion.

At the same time, Obama is acutely aware that persistent joblessness is the issue most likely to spell political trouble for Democrats in this year's midterm elections — and perhaps for his own re-election chances in 2012.

(emphasis, ours)

Additionally, Obama is calling for a $100 billion jobs bill, or as we like to call it Son of Porkulus or Porkulus the Younger. Porkulus the Elder, you may recall, was the gargantuan $787 billion stimulus bill passed 11 months ago that was not going to let unemployment go above 8 percent.

Perhaps we should temper our criticism a bit as it is entirely possible the President suffers from a disorder that he simply cannot help or control. After all, reading that quote at the top from December of last year and listening to the SOTU, we were convinced that after the profligate spending of 2009, 2010 was to be the year of the deficit hawk.

Oh well. Maybe next year.