P3 author Dean Baker appeared on NPR’s “Morning Edition” yesterday and added a measure of sanity to the budget discussions playing out in DC.

With double-digit unemployment rates, and after eight years of a two-front war and occupation, some lawmakers think it’s high time we cut entitlements. Recall that Sen. Judd Gregg of the Senate Budget Committee claimed a few years ago that we face a classic guns-and-butter tradeoff, and that we need to cut the butter (i.e., non-military domestic spending, the stuff that actually helps American families).

Dean’s suggestion is that we deal with jobs and health care now and worry about the deficit in 2012. He also suggests we consider a financial transactions tax and cuts to the Pentagon.

Dean’s new book, False Profits, was just released.