Get rid of ObamaCare! Now! It’s a really good idea … if your plan is to do the exact opposite of what you’re trying to achieve on controlling the deficit. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday said ObamaCare will actually work to shrink, not enlarge, our fiscal budget headache.More details from the CBO here. Important story for truth. (via hypervocal)
» The trade-off: “On the one hand, if policymakers leave current laws unchanged, the federal debt will probably recede slowly,” said CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf. “On the other hand, changing current laws to let current policies continue … would boost the economy and allow people to pay less in taxes and benefit more from government programs in the next few years — but put the nation on an unsustainable fiscal course.” That’s a tough one, kids.
» A report full of mediocre news: The Congressional Budget Office’s report on the deficit notes that while the deficits will be smaller over the next decade — by $3.3 trillion over ten years — as a result of the arm-twisting budget deal passed earlier this month, another $3.5 trillion in deficits will be added on top of everything else. Oh, and lest you think that $1.28 trillion is a small amount, it’s only small compared to the prior two years, which were basically the two largest yearly deficits on record. So this total redefines “smaller.”
» Why is this? The CBO’s report says that in regards to what’s behind all this, “Of the various initiatives that the President is proposing, tax provisions would have by far the largest budgetary impact.” In layman’s terms, tax cuts — especially those for the middle class — are the largest factor affecting deficits. While he’s pushing for tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, they won’t offset the effect of the tax cuts. You know what’s funny though? Even though the CBO’s report specifically says this, the Washington Times reported this story as if spending was the culprit.
» Not to belabor the point: The extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, which the President hashed out with Republicans, was a compromise granted to a political party that claims to be concerned about the deficit. You might therefore think the deal wouldn’t staggeringly increase the deficit, but you’d think wrong. This news will invariably be spun into another story about reckless liberal spending, but remember: this was the war trophy the Republican Party got out of the President, unfunded expenditure be damned.
» This isn’t according to Congressional Democrats. It’s not according to the White House. No, these numbers come from the third party, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Republicans have cited CBO numbers in the past, too, so this isn’t an example of a biased report coming from a politically-motivated source. It’s just the facts, ma’am.
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