Krugman: Passing It Along

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/18/opinion/18KRUG.html

Here's another sentence in George Bush's State of the Union address that wasn't true: "We will not deny, we will not ignore, we will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other presidents and other generations."

Mr. Bush's officials profess to see nothing wrong with the explosion of the national debt on their watch, even though they now project an astonishing $455 billion budget deficit this year and $475 billion next year. But even the usual apologists (well, some of them) are starting to acknowledge the administration's irresponsibility. Will they also face up to its dishonesty? It has been obvious all along, if you were willing to see it, that the administration's claims to fiscal responsibility have rested on thoroughly cooked books.

The numbers tell the tale. In its first budget, released in April 2001, the administration projected a budget surplus of $334 billion for this year. More tellingly, in its second budget, released in February 2002 — that is, after the administration knew about the recession and Sept. 11 — it projected a deficit of only $80 billion this year, and an almost balanced budget next year. Just six months ago, it was projecting deficits of about $300 billion this year and next.

There's no mystery about why the administration's budget projections have borne so little resemblance to reality: realistic budget numbers would have undermined the case for tax cuts. So budget analysts were pressured to high-ball estimates of future revenues and low-ball estimates of future expenditures. Any resemblance to the way the threat from Iraq was exaggerated is no coincidence at all.

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Another well-done job by Krugman

The comparison of Bush's tax cutting to his bogus war in Iraq is nothing short of brilliant.

Mr. Bush shows no inclination to deal with the budget deficit. On the contrary, his administration continues to fudge the numbers and push for ever more tax cuts. Eventually, markets will notice. And tarnished credibility, along with a much-increased debt, is a problem that Mr. Bush will pass along to other Congresses, other presidents and other generations.

What should we expect from a spoiled brat in his mid-fifties who has never been responsible for anything and has always been shielded from the consequences of his own mistakes?

[clarkbarr]

2. GO PAUL GO!

I know who the NEXT Secretary of the Treasury SHOULD be!

Paul "Stop the GOP Borrow and Spenders" Krugman!

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Look at this way: lack of hypocrisy and reliability of consistency. That

is to say the Federal Budget and its accounting practices are in line with the Arthur Anderson standard of accounting via Enron (among other corporations). You cook the books, you fudge on the numbers through creative accounting, and you hope nobody notices and you get a free pass.

Well, the problem is you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. When foreign investors realize the magnitude of the our way of doing business within the government and hence throughout the economy, they will pull out of financing our debt. One-third of the revenue to finance our budget gone. Now, where do you think the money will come from to pay for that necessary one-third (1/3) of that missing revenue? Hmmmmmm. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, loans for college tuition, federal aid to states, public lands, privitatization.

Oh wait a minute. That's the optomistic view. We could be plunged into an economic crisis as Krugman as referred to with regard to Argentina, maybe worse and longer. That's closer to reality.

[Raster]

4. I have a great idea where some of the money should come from...

...confiscate the BFEE holdings and accounts. Make it a junkit, start with the Bahamas, next Bermuda and end up in Zurich. Take every freakin' dime the BFEE has stashed away.

[Merlin]

5. The voice of truth. A voice crying in the wilderness for two years.

But now, finally beginning to be heard.

[indepat]

6. I bet there are at least a dozen other statements of dubious vericity,

were the SOTU to be broken down line-by-line.