Presidential candidate John Edwards deserves some praise for honesty. He has openly admitted that he wants more taxes and more spending. His chief rivals, as noted by the Associated Press in a story, have been less forthcoming. But honesty does not count for much if a candidate’s proposals will mean less prosperity. Edwards seems to think that European-style levels of government spending can be imposed without European-style levels of stagnation and unemployment:

Edwards is quick to acknowledge his spending on health care, energy and poverty reduction comes at a cost, with more plans to come. All told, his proposals would equal more than $1 trillion if he could get them enacted into law and operational during two White House terms. … To pay for some of his priorities, Edwards would roll back Bush’s tax cuts on Americans making more than $200,000 a year. He also said he would consider raising capital gains taxes to help fund his plans and raise or eliminate the $90,000 cap on individual earnings subject to Social Security taxes to help cover the projected shortfall in the system. … Edwards’ ideas have already opened him to accusations of being just another tax-and-spend liberal, a label put on Walter Mondale, the 1984 Democratic presidential nominee who said he would raise taxes and then lost 49 states to President Reagan. … Edwards has been the most forthcoming Democratic candidate when it comes to describing the details of how he would like to run the country. His chief rivals — Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama — have offered few hints about their policy proposals.