Looking for the right masochist to lead the U.S.

Help wanted: High-ranking executive position pays $400,000 a year, with a minimum commitment of four years.

Help wanted: High-ranking executive position pays $400,000 a year, with a minimum commitment of four years. The position includes a lucrative expense account, free housing and plenty of other amenities.

But the job includes cleaning up the mess left by the last person who held the position.

So the question is: Are Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Barack Obama masochistic enough to want the position? One of them will surely face an economic nightmare brought about by fiscal recklessness.

At least President Bush’s 2009 budget proposal, which would be bad news for millions of Americans, is most likely to be ignored by the Democratic-controlled Congress, according to political experts.

Frankly, his proposed budget is another sad example of mixed-up priorities and failed fiscal policies that the next poor soul in the White Hose will inherit.

Mr. Bush’s proposed $3.1 trillion budget sticks it to the middle class, caters to the wealthy and has a set of priorities that aren’t those of the American people.

The budget has been appropriately criticized for increasing Pentagon spending while attempting to place curbs on Medicare spending and cutting back on many other important domestic programs.

While average American families struggle, the president’s budget looks to grab billions of dollars from critical health-care programs in order to finance the war in Iraq and tax cuts for the wealthy.

But even after cutting tens of billions of dollars from important domestic programs such as Medicaid, the budget still carries a $410 billion deficit, one of the largest in our nation’s history. Once again, the president wants to pay for his misguided foreign and fiscal policies with more debt — now largely in the hands of foreigners.

We, as a nation, should be doing everything we can to help middle- and low-income families come to grips with the economic downturn. As health-care costs continue to skyrocket, government needs to maintain serious investments in Medicare and Medicaid, which help millions of Americans.

We should also be spending tax dollars on American infrastructure projects that create jobs in our communities and make the economy more efficient.

The next president needs to be committed to investing in real American priorities such as job growth, education and health care, as well as to fiscal responsibility.

Mr. Bush brought this country the five largest deficits in American history. When he delivered his 2009 budget, he merely furthered every bad idea he has pushed since he came into office.

Mr. Bush continues to ignore evidence of the destruction his previous budgets have caused.

The president inherited a surplus from the Clinton administration, which he eventually used up on his tax cuts. Mr. Bush continued cutting taxes after the surpluses were in the rearview mirror.

What’s more, even after launching the war in Iraq, he remains stubborn in his fiscal beliefs. Indeed, with the economy slowing, Mr. Bush is still pushing to make those tax cuts permanent.

That would be fiscally unsound.

Thank goodness change is coming Jan. 20.

What this country needs is a good masochist who isn’t afraid to deal with the pain inflicted on the country by Mr. Bush and who has the mettle to guide the country through some serious economic minefields.

Jim Pavia is the editor of InvestmentNews.