The entire conversation is becoming absurd. With the U.S. running trillion-dollar deficits at full employment, taxes inevitably are going to have to rise in the next decade, probably on both income and capital gains. Indeed, the soaring federal budget deficits are positive proof the idea espoused by Larry Kudlow, chairman of the council of Economic Advisors, that tax cuts pay for themselves is a chimera.

But any tax increase should be well-conceived. One might think, for example, that Sen. Elizabeth Warren might have checked into why nine out of 12 European countries that enacted wealth taxes subsequently abandoned them.

Democrats don’t have a monopoly on dumb ideas, but Wyden isn’t a 72-year-old former reality show host or a 29-year-old former bartender.

Speaking of reality show hosts, the idea to shut down America’s border with Mexico is equally preposterous. Only $1.5 billion in goods and services—and 30 percent of the fruits and vegetables Americans consume—cross the border every day. Is anyone surprised that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups want President Trump to dump that pearl of an idea? Wyden’s proposal is headed for the same circular file.

But the more alarming issue is the sheer number of idiotic ideas from both parties floating around our nation's capital. In times of prosperity, it's easy to sit back and laugh. Come the next recession, America is going to need serious adults in the driver's seat.

Whatever your party affilation, the nation was lucky to have Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Presidents Bush and Obama, and Treasury Secretaries Paulson and Geithner in 2008 and 2009. Together, they prevented a nasty recession from becoming a depression. If there are adults in Washington these day, they are keeping a low profile.

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