Yes, ironically the balanced budget amendment would have most strongly hit Dubya's plans more than any other president. It would definitely harm the supply-spiders as well.
(It should be passed, but with a waiver in recessionary times. It should also automatically ban large surpluses as well.)
See, this is a good compromise. I don't really see how you ban surpluses though
I believe Oregon has a budget mechanism which automatically refunds surpluses. I don't think the government should squirrel away cash, it's unseemly.
The trouble with too many inflexible rules is you end up with political crises. Remember the horrid shenanigans surrounding the debt ceiling, and the agonising effort it took to raise it? A balanced budget amendment would have to come with some sort of desperately needed political reform to end the risk of brinkmanship pushing the country into oblivion.
