This, from the S.F. Chronicle. In short, the Bush administration has
increased the tax burden, but then given those stupid refunds, and
lessening the tax burden on corporations, has given way to the problem
of a ballooning national debt.....

Washington -- The Medicare bill about to clear Congress is the latest
example of how budget discipline is being given short shrift at both
ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, critics say.

By official calculations, the tax cuts and increases in benefits
enacted this year alone will increase the national debt by more than
$750 billion over the next decade, and the actual amount could be much
larger.

"In fiscal terms, there is no doubt in my mind that this has been the
most irresponsible year ever," said Robert L. Bixby, executive
director of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan watchdog organization
that favors restraining the budget deficit.

Ed McKelvey, an economist at Goldman Sachs, declared in the investment
firm's newsletter last week that "the U.S. federal budget is out of
control."