Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I'll give you benefit the doubt, and assume I didn't explain myself well. Early last year, the Administration issued a prediction that the deficit would be, say, $580 billion. (I don't recall the exact numbers.) At the time, people pointed out that the prediction was unrealistically high. As they said, the actual number came in lower -- say, $420 billion. But the Administration continues to talk as if the deficit actually was what they predicted. So their ostensible target for halving the deficit is $290 billion, not $210 billion. The math is very simple. Even you should be able to follow it.
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I saw one article the other day that indicated that the "halving the deficit" promise is even more hollow. Not only are we using an inflated prediction, rather than the actual 2004 deficit, as a starting point, but are halving in terms of %% of GDP, not dollars. Which, of course, allows you to make a proposal that will "succeed" by inflating the predictions for economic growth.
I don't think this is how Bush sold the plan to the electorate -- i.e., I remember him saying "I will cut the deficit in half by 2009," not "the 2009 deficit will be less than half of the deficit we predicted for 2004," but hey -- I still think he sold the war in Iraq based on WMD.
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