Bush to run for prez with $500 billion deficit

The CBO is predicting a $500 billion deficit in 2004, followig its prediction of the record-shattering $401 billion shortfall this year. Neither of those numbers include the $4 billion or so spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

And the deficit is twice as big if the social security surplus isn't factored in.

The Budget Committee Democrats said their analysis shows that the deficit will hit $495 billion in 2004, and will never go below $300 billion in the 2004-2013 period, reaching a total over the decade of $3.7 trillion.

If money from the Social Security surpluses now being used to pay for other federal programs is not factored in, the decade-long deficit will be $6.3 trillion, they said [...]

The CBO numbers ... do not take into account the $1.2 trillion that will be lost if tax cuts scheduled to expire over the next decade are made permanent, and another $878 billion in new tax cuts over the decade being sought by the White House.

Boy, we're going to see some nice, shiny charts in this election cycle. I look forward to seeing Bush defend his borrow and spend stewardship of the budget.

Posted August 26, 2003 06:37 AM | Comments (118)