Do deficits matter? Clearly, the White House and a substantial number of congressional Republicans can't decide. On one hand, they sound like cost-cutting deficit hawks when out on the stump or issuing tweets. But once the TV lights go off, they turn tables to support record spending and deficit-driven borrowing that have left us with an unprecedented burden of national debt - more than $21 trillion today and counting.
So which is it? Do deficits matter or not? Because if they do - and I count myself in that corner - then the U.S. economy and all of us who depend on its well-being are in deep trouble unless we turn things around fast.