Ah, yes… isn’t it funny how people vote Republican because they think they’re gonna cut government spending and whatnot? How they call the Democrats “tax and spend?” Whether or not Democratic spending is appropriate or wise is a matter for argument elsewhere; at least when the Democrats spend, they tax in order to pay for it. It seems that the Republicans can’t do simple math. I mean, c’mon. Anyone with a modicum of elementary school math can tell you that spending record amounts of money while at the same time cutting the amount you take in results in a net loss. And thanks to the freewheeling tax cuts and huge spending on an unnecessary war, our great-grandchildren will look back at the Bush administration and curse. (Well, that’s just one reason they’ll do that.) He certainly leaving a huge… well, “legacy” doesn’t quite sound like the right word.
An $80 billion request for additional war spending this year will push the federal deficit to a record $427 billion for fiscal 2005, and the government’s long-term fiscal health appears to be only growing worse, administration and congressional officials said today.
… The additional request should send the federal deficit above the record $412 billion deficit recorded in fiscal year 2004, which ended Sept. 30, said three administration officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
Of course, this is not the full story. The CBO says that the deficits from 2006 through 2015 — assuming no changes in laws, which is pretty naive — will be $855,000,000,000. However, that doesn’t include a bunch of “a la carte” stuff. So, add to that: “ramped down” war in Iraq and Afghanistan: $590,000,000,000. If the Bush tax cuts are made permanent, add $1,854,000,000,000 to that total.
I’m sure that this kind of money is pocket change to families like the Bushes and the Cheneys, but the Cowans can’t even count that high.
Is it any wonder that every business George W Bush had was run into the ground?
Oh, by the way — the Bush White House last year estimated a higher deficit – $521 billion. Now that it’s clearly obvious that the deficit won’t be cut in half as they promised, they’ve issued a statement to the effect that they would meet that promise because they were talking about the higher figure. In other words, they created a false, high estimate so that it wouldn’t look so bad when the real estimate came in.
Oh, one more thing pointed out in the article: with this additional appropriation, we will have spent more on the Iraq and Afghanistan war than we spent — ready for this? — on World War II. The whole, entire war.
