Toon: Play It Again, Louis

Okay, okay, so it's a cliché to have a cartoon character declare that he is "shocked, shocked!"

But we've been here so many times before. Republicans in Congress pass a tax cut, promising that it will stimulate economic growth. But the economic benefit of the tax cut is as ephemeral as a sugar rush, and as a result, the deficit spikes and the national debt grows that much faster.

But Republicans are happy because they have successfully transferred that much more of the cost of society from the upper class to the middle and lower classes, and they can point to the national debt as proof that the government can't afford to keep schools open, water potable, or bridges from crumbling, let alone any effort to make health care affordable.

Even so, if the last tax cut didn't balance the budget as advertised, surely the next one will.

As soon as Republicans come up with original economic theory, clichés are all I've got for them.