A losing attempt to defend $500 billion deficits

How do you defend the indefensible? OMB Director Bolten gave it ol' college try:

Bolten said tax cuts had provided a boost to the economy and that the deficit could have been worse without them -- and noted the deficit was not a record number when measured against the size of the overall economy.

Ha ha! That was a good one -- until you realize he's not joking.

So in Bolten's mind (and the whole administration's, by extension), cutting tax receipts makes the deficit less. And, the deficit is not really a problem, because it's not a record deficit as a percent of GDP.

Hmmm, sounds like a whole lot of fuzzy math to me.

Posted July 16, 2003 04:46 PM