Bachmann's Shameless Response to the Downgrade

Michele Bachmann seems to be competing for the heavily contested title of Most Shameless Politician. As the leader of the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives, she may bear more responsibility for the unprecedented downgrade of the US credit rating than any other individual.

So what was her immediate reaction to the downgrade? She called for "the immediate resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner."

She also called on the president "to submit a plan with a list of cuts to balance the budget this year, turn our economy around and put Americans back to work". Why doesn't she submit her own list of cuts? The president might find it helpful. The task would be non-trivial, since a lot of mandatory spending would have to be cut. But of course she does not want to go on record as demanding deep cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, farm subsidies and other popular programs (both mandatory and discretionary). Her statement is pure demagoguery.

Furthermore, assuming the economy is still growing (there are significant doubts about that), instantly slashing the government spending by a double digit percentage of GDP would surely turn our economy around - in a very literal sense (i.e. plunge it into a depression). I cannot figure out though whether Mrs. Bachmann's claim that a balanced budget would improve the economy is yet more demagoguery or just economic illiteracy.