Even though we now know that "bleeding" was a poor medical practice, now we're told it's a good economic one

It looks as though the so-called GOP "Pledge" is not catching on.  It's the usual boilerplate:  tax cuts and spending cuts. 

Relatively few Republicans are running for office on it, but President Obama went on about it at some length on the Today Show.  It's a bad sign when your opponents are more interested in your ideas than your own side is.

One thing for sure that people don't understand is how you can have tax cuts for plutocrats and still balance the budget.  No sixth-grade math student would fall for that.  Why does one get the impression that some people believe that tax cuts for plutocrats are morally virtuous, in and of themselves, and enacting them will cause God to reward all of us for blessing his chosen ones?

Incidentally, we've had "job-creating tax rates" since the first days of the Bush administration.  Has anyone inquired as to why no actual jobs have been created?

Cutting spending is likewise a poor idea, especially in a recession.  State governments often have to do so, and throw tons of government employees out of work in the process, which only makes the problem worse.  Alf Landon wanted to cut spending in 1936, which Roosevelt actually did in 1937, and which resulted in the only increase in unemployment during the entire FDR administration.  Yet, here's Mitch McConnell (R-KY): 

"Let me tell you how I'd reduce the deficit. There are two things you need to do. Number one, you need to get spending down, and number two, we need to get the economy going."

Trying to "get the economy going" by taking money out of the system doesn't make any sense.  It reminds a person of the medical practice of "bleeding" during the middle ages.  You're sick and they're taking your blood out?  You're expecting this to help?  How?

The whole problem in a recession is that demand for goods decreases because people are out of work and don't have money to spend.  The more that situation increases, the more jobs are lost, resulting in even less money to spend, which means that demand for goods decreases even more, to the extent that even some rich people start to be affected.

You are not going to make anything about that situation better by spending even less money.  The economy needs more "blood" not less.