| Friday, July 30, 2004
Good News, Everyone
The White House projected Friday that the 2004 deficit will
hit a record $445 billion. I know, you're scratching your
head and asking, "How is that good news?" Well it
appears the good news is that the White House had projected
a $521 billion shortfall, and since that is $76 billion dollars
less than the now projected deficit, they are all excited
and spreading the good news. One news report even called this
"A political plus for Republicans."
More good news
The White House also lowered its deficit projections for
each of the next five years. It now expects the 2005 shortfall
to be $331 billion, easing to $229 billion by 2009. That was
$33 billion less than it projected in February for 2005, and
$8 billion less than it envisioned then for 2009.
Republicans have blamed Clinton, the 9/11 attacks, the invasion
of Iraq, and the recession for the fiscal problems. They also
say the deficits are manageable because they are only about
4 percent the size of the U.S. economy—well below the
6 percent reached under President Reagan.
And, even more good news
The White House report also boosted its estimate of Medicare
spending by $67 billion over the next five years. They attributed
the increase to added expenditures under last year's bill,
expanding Medicare coverage (the prescription drug give-away
to the pharmaceutical industry), and to changes in long-range
technical estimates about the program (how much they are robbing
the fund to cover the budget deficits). There are also concerns
that the extra spending could effect the Medicare solvency,
already in jeopardy over the next two decades with the impending
retirement of the huge baby-boom generation. Medicare's anticipated
rapid growth in coming years is expected to be a major engine
keeping the budget in the red.
How all that good news adds up
My calculator doesn't have room for all the zeros, I guess
you need a special government issue calculator for that, but
doing the short math, that adds up to close to a 1.7 trillion
dollar ($1,692,000,000,000) total deficit in 2009. And that
is with the "good news" that the deficit will "ease"
to $299 billion, per year, by 2009.
So, as I now understand it, all you have to do is project
really, really bad news, then when it's not quite as bad as
you projected, that's "good news" and a "political
plus." I have to say quite honestly, I don't think this
country needs any more "good news" from this administration.
And as far as being a "political plus" goes, this
news falls in the minus column any way you add it up.
From a concerned citizen,
living on a balanced budget
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