Ezra Klein: The Most Succinct Explanation of Bush's Budget You'll Read All Day

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February 07, 2007

The Most Succinct Explanation of Bush's Budget You'll Read All Day

It makes a big deal about getting rid of the federal deficit by 2012. But guess what: George Bush will have been out of office for three years by then--and the biggest projected reductions in the deficit in his budget all come after he leaves town.

This man gave us the deficit (remember, the federal government was running a surplus when he took office), and now he's got some bold plans for his successor to get rid of it. Now that's what I call a profile in fiscal courage.

February 7, 2007 | Permalink

Comments

And let's just ignore his recent history of asking for "supplemental" money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the projected deficite, at $172 billion, is 58% less than last years, what would another $100 billion later this year do? And then $50 billion more a few months after that?

A hundred billion here, a hundred billion there, pretty soon you're talking about some serious money. . .

Posted by: Stephen | Feb 7, 2007 1:49:01 PM

I'm trying to figure out how to run this scam myself. Hey I got a $400,000 mortgage on my house, but the next people moving in in 2012 will be paying it for me - mortgage-free for 5 years - sounds good!

Posted by: CParis | Feb 7, 2007 3:59:25 PM

It would be interesting if this president was the first to do this. But, I think you will find that ALL presidents, and the executive branch, project budgets in the out years. It may be required by legislation. If so, good try.

Posted by: Agricola | Feb 7, 2007 4:18:47 PM

so we have a budget that isn't the budget (all income and disbursements), but guesses about the income if the tax laws that expire are assumed to be be reenacted and disbursements that don't include known requirements for supplemental funding.

So Bush's budget is a non-budget budget which means he will spend what he likes and just lie about how great his contribution to budget balance might be happening if pony's could fly.

Posted by: JimPortlandOR | Feb 7, 2007 4:23:54 PM

Posted by: Agricola | Feb 7, 2007 1:18:47 PM

It would be interesting if this president was the first to do this. But, I think you will find that ALL presidents, and the executive branch, project budgets in the out years. It may be required by legislation. If so, good try.

You were so happy to find a "gotcha" that you weren't paying attention. The issue is not that he projects the budget into the out years, the issue is that he always brings down a budget in deficit in the here and now, and always projects a return to surplus in the out years.

Its like a teenager talking about paying off a loan ... the payment is normally mentioned in the future tense, during the effort to borrow, and rarely in the present tense, as in, "here's that money I owe you".

Posted by: BruceMcF | Feb 7, 2007 5:32:05 PM

Agricola, it's the dishonesty.

Posted by: Barry | Feb 8, 2007 9:38:22 AM

Two of our new public opinion studies conclude that the public has little difficulty understanding the magnitude of the fiscal challenge facing the nation. And while the public is also willing to consider tough tradeoffs to address the growing national debt, support for program cuts, reforms or tax increases comes with one key condition: finding ways to increase trust that their leaders will spend their money responsibly and for the purposes intended. So, there are some interesting and timely topics at hand. For more info go to http://www.publicagenda.org/pubengage/pe_facingup.cfm

Posted by: William | Feb 8, 2007 11:02:11 AM

Just like the man is going to let the next President clean up his Iraq clusterfuck.

Posted by: merlallen | Feb 9, 2007 8:50:32 AM

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