Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Eugene Robinson at the Washington Post complains about Republicans’ insistence that tax rates not go up next month, while they also resist more government spending:

In other words, there’s no additional money in the national coffers for the victims of the most devastating recession since the Great Depression. But to help investment bankers start the new year right, perhaps with a new Mercedes or a bit of sun in the Caribbean? Step right up, and we’ll write you a check.

No. No. No. When the government fails to raise taxes, no one “writes a check.” People who are not taxed don’t get a check from the government, they simply get to keep the money they have already earned. No check will be coming from “the national coffers” to taxpayers if tax rates are left at their current rates.

Robinson seems to think that all the money in America is “in the national coffers,” and the question for Congress is who to give it to.