President Bush got some welcome news Wednesday as the federal deficit for the last fiscal year shrank to $247.7 billion, the smallest in four years, because of a nearly 12% jump in tax revenue. Bush said the numbers were more evidence that the economy was booming thanks to tax cuts that he wanted to see extended.
The administration has drawn criticism for its deficit projections, and Democrats cried foul again Wednesday. They said the deficit reduction was exaggerated because Bush's 2004 figure was a projection later reduced by $100 billion, meaning the deficit actually shrank 39% from 2004 to 2006.
"Cutting the deficit in half from an intentionally inflated high point is a misleading goal and certainly no measure of success," said the Senate Budget Committee's ranking Democrat, Kent Conrad of North Dakota.
Conrad added that the president also failed to note that he was tapping Social Security revenue to help cover the deficit through off-budget borrowing. Accounting for that, Conrad said, would have added $550 billion to the deficit last fiscal year, money that will have to be repaid as 78 million baby boomers become eligible for Social Security.
Other Democrats said Bush had overstated the strength of the economy and gave too much credit to tax cuts.
"Only a president with such a historically bad economic record would be this excited about a $248-billion deficit," said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, ranking Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee. "The large budget deficits run up by President Bush have produced record-low national saving, record-high trade deficits and record-high foreign borrowing."
Sometimes the bullshit is just so overwhelming that you cannot even come up with an approprate response. This is one of those times.
You have to wonder if this administration has ever once told us the truth.
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Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.