Our long-term United States budget forecast is gloomy, particularly if President Bush and Congress agree to extend the tax cuts ready to expire after 2010; Bush wants Congress to make the tax cuts permanent before he leaves office in 2009. This means that in 2016, the annual federal budget deficit would be nearly $400 billion. Beyond that, the costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are projected to rise to a level that "economic growth alone is unlikely to alleviate," according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Making President Bush's tax cuts permanent will prolong big budget deficits into the next decade. The non-partisan budget office also said the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit could cost $979 billion in the 10 years from 2007 through 2016-- last year, the administration put the figure at $720 billion for the years 2006 to 2015. Our current amount of national debt-- which is adjusted higher or lower depending on our national budget balance-- is already nearly $8.2 trillion.
Our Congress and president have not shown fiscal leadership since the 1990s. We must send our incumbents a clear message this election season, that we will vote in their competitor candidates, serious public servants who will soberly address the critical problems of our country, public servants who will not continually perpetuate our corrupt political system!
Sources: USA Today, Bureau of National Debt
d.a.n said at :
12:20 PM, 01 28 2006 | Permalink
Not showing fiscal leadership is a tiny bit of an understatement, since Bush, and all incumbents in Congress not only spend a lot, but spend in a way that is extremely irresponsible, to the point that it threatens lives, and the future and security of the nation.
Perhaps we should have asked Bush if he even knew about a veto pen. Or, perhaps, if he even knows what it means ? Obviously, something is amuck.
d.a.n | January 28, 2006 12:20 PM
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