If I had to pick one thing that President Obama said during his entire campaign that caught my attention and made me think he might not be so bad (even though he was not my first or second choice among the Democratic candidates), it was the simple idea of basing policy on what works and discarding what does not. Whenever he said it, I thought immediately of the abstinence-only sex education under the Bush administration. This was precisely the sort of ineffective policy I hoped Obama would stop funding. The so called "war on drugs" was another example. Sadly, Obama seems poised to prove that he wasn't serious about this on the issue of the U.S. economy.

When it comes to tax policy, there are competing ideas about the role of tax cuts in stimulating the economy. Although tax cuts are one of the least effective steps government can take to stimulate the economy, it is easy to see why those who are financially comfortable and not particularly worried about others would argue for them.

In the event of a large budget surplus, one could make a decent argument for giving tax cuts to everyone. This is what Bush did. The goal was not to stimulate the economy but simply to return the surplus. But when faced with a large budget deficit, one must be far more careful.

Because tax cuts are such a poor way of stimulating the economy, they should be one of the last options considered when stimulus is the goal. And even when they are considered, it should be recognized that granting tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans is far less effective in boosting the economy than giving breaks to the middle class or providing unemployment insurance.

These data are readily available. President Obama knows, or certainly should know, that cutting taxes across the board is a mistake that will do little to help the economy and increase the size of the deficit. This is especially true when he has already lowered the taxes paid by most Americans. Even the majority of the public recognizes this. That he is even considering extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans is extremely disappointing. Let the Bush tax cuts expire.

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