Noteworthy

Republican senator Tom Coborn proposes nine trillion dollars of tax cuts, including massive cuts to social programs. One of the more controversial aspects of the plan is to cut veterans' health benefits -- an echo of the 1930s, when World War One veterans also had their benefits cut (some committed suicide as a result). He also, and unsurprisingly, proposes breathtakingly modest cuts to the most capital intensive aspect of military spending: weapons systems -- 10 aircraft carriers instead of 11, and one less Navy air wing.