[barrybe]

> That wouldn't end the deficit, that would just ensure the deficit was 0 the day before elections.

I think that's the point. Short-term borrowing is sometimes a smart idea, as long as there's a real plan to pay it off. The idea would be to only discourage irresponsible borrowing.

> This same logic, if we allow it to be applied to the deficit, could be applied to other things.

I think it's fairly uncontroversial that having unpaid debt is bad and should be avoided.. so it's not too similar to issues that are actually controversial.