If there’s any good news from this recession, it may be this: We’ve seen how Washington works. The picture is so ugly, it may be enough to spark real reform in the years ahead. Here’s what’s been going on:

Every so often Congress gets hold of a bill that simply must pass. A defense spending bill, say, during war time. So lawmakers exploit the situation, tacking on pet projects that have nothing to do with defense.

This year’s must-pass bill is a “stimulus” measure.

True to form, Congress has loaded the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 with hundreds of billions in wasteful spending. The bill includes $650 million for digital TV coupons, $140 million to study the atmosphere and $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts.

None of these proposals would create jobs or boost our economy. They’re just old-fashioned waste. And that’s a problem. Crying “stimulus,” Congress intends to spend money it doesn’t have to accomplish things that don’t need to be done on a scale never before seen. If signed into law, this leviathan would be the largest single spending bill ever passed, adding at least $819 billion (before interest) to the national debt.

If lawmakers had decided to borrow the money for this stimulus plan directly from Americans, the average family would have to fork over $10,520 this year. That’s more than what that same family will spend on food, clothing and health care for the entire year.

If lawmakers were honest about what they’re doing (spending borrowed money) they’d have to admit that they’re asking hard-pressed American families to loan the government more this year than those families will otherwise spend on essentials.

Of course, the government won’t borrow directly from Americans. It’ll attempt to raise the money on the international bond market, meaning our country will go deeper into debt to foreign lenders, especially Japan and China.

And what will this spending accomplish? Not much. Continued...