There's the mess they're saddling us with in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And then there's the deficit.
After years of White House boasting that it is getting the deficit under control – cutting it by $250 billion during the past two years – the administration appears ready to concede that the deficit will rise to $400 billion or more in the coming year. That’s a near-return to the record $413-billion deficit reached in 2004.
The deficit had come down to $163 billion, the Office of Management and Budget recently reported – with a projection that the U.S. should see a surplus in revenue by the year 2012.
But the combination of a slowing economy and the new economic stimulus that Congress and the president are pursuing – with about $150 billion in tax relief promised this spring, could be reversing the trend.
As usual, Bush will propose a significant increase in defense spending this year, as he has from the start, the Washington Post is reporting ...
Where do the increases in defense spending go? Do you feel safer? Has there been a notable improvement in the situation in Iraq? No. What about Afghanistan? Nope. Anyone else notice that it has taken the administration 5 years to begin to regulate documentation requirements at our borders and the process is far from complete? Repeat: where are the bucks going?
Oh. Right. Private contractors.
Meanwhile, Bush "will seek to slow the growth of 'entitlement' spending such as Medicare ..."
