deficits to continue breaking records

[Riot]

That's an interesting opinion piece, but I haven't seen that opinion shared by many. Making a contention about absolute amounts then segueing into percent of GDP as one's support is a bit of a straw man IMO.

Here's some more on what Congress might be thinking of regarding the tax cuts.

Republican leaders have opposed much smaller spending bills that would add to the national debt — most recently a $34 billion extension of unemployment benefits, approved by Congress on Thursday. But they endorse more federal borrowing to make all the tax cuts permanent.

The tax cuts were enacted in 2001 and 2003 after Bush made them the centerpiece of his election campaign. They provided help for rich and poor alike, reducing the lowest marginal rates as well as the top ones and several in between. They provided a wide range of income tax breaks for education, families with children and married couples.

Taxes on capital gains and dividends were reduced, while the federal estate tax was gradually repealed, though only for this year.

Obama wants to make the tax cuts permanent for middle- and lower-income taxpayers, allowing the top rates to increase next year for individuals making more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000.

Obama's plan would cost $2.5 trillion over the next decade, including the cost of an annual fix that spares the middle class from being hit with the Alternative Minimum — a hit of about $3,700 a year.

It would cost $2.9 trillion over the next decade to extend all the tax cuts, including AMT relief, according to estimates from the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., first raised the possibility of a temporary extension during a speech in June about the budget deficit. In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., favors a permanent extension of the middle-class tax cuts, but the issue is not settled.

Finance Committee Democrats circulated a proposal Thursday that would let tax cuts for the wealthy expire next year while permanently extending the middle-class tax cuts. It would patch the AMT for two years and extend the estate tax for two years with a top rate of 45 percent. The cost: $1.55 trillion over the next decade.

Committee members met behind closed doors for more than hour Thursday to discuss the tax cuts. Afterward, Baucus said no decisions had been make.

Some rank-and-file Democrats are arguing to extend all the tax cuts, including those for high earners, for a year or two, until the economy recovers. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday she won't consider extending the tax cuts for the wealthy.