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Obama Has Plan to Slash Deficit, Despite Stimulus Bil
Here's the NYT laying the groundwork for this week's disaster.After a string of costly bailout and stimulus measures, President Obama will set a goal this week to cut the annual deficit at least in half by the end of his term, administration officials said. Oooh, that felt good. Now pull my other leg. The reduction would come in large part through Iraq troop withdrawals and higher taxes on the wealthy. Or maybe he's going to withdraw the wealthy from Iraq and tax the troops. I get confused. The president inherited a deficit for 2009 of about $1.2 trillion, which will rise to more than $1.5 trillion, given initial spending from his recently enacted stimulus package. So the $800 billion porkulus only increases the deficit by $300 billion. As a liberal arts major, I can see that. His budget blueprint for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, will include a 10-year projection showing the annual deficit declining to $533 billion in the 2013 fiscal year, the last year of his term, officials said. And I'm sure that projection is going to have a probability associated with it, especially for years 5-10. While that suggests a two-thirds reduction, exceeding Mr. Obamas goal of at least half, advisers note that the current deficit as a starting point is inflated by one-time expenses to stimulate the economy. So the Democratic Congress is going to refuse to extend all those goodies. Right. Crack is only mildly addictive compared to this stuff. Measured against the size of the economy, the projected $533 billion shortfall for 2013 would mean a reduction from a deficit equal to more than 10 percent of the gross domestic product larger than any deficit since World War II to 3 percent, which is the level that economists generally consider sustainable. Mr. Obama will project deficits at about that level through 2019, aides said. I'm just glad all these smart people in Washington are taking care of my money for me. Check, please. Posted by: Matt 2009-02-22 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=263203 |