Academic

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Congressional Estimates Show Grim Deficit Picture. ?The nonpartisan Congressiona?

By Glenn Reynolds

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Congressional Estimates Show Grim Deficit Picture. “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama’s budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That’s $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration.”

Ann Althouse comments: “The number is utterly incomprehensible. If you think it is not, I’m going to assume it is because your brain has less, not more, capacity than mine. Please don’t stumble embarrassingly over yourself trying to prove otherwise.”

And, from the comments: “I think the number will be higher. There will be ‘emergencies’ and ‘unforeseen circumstances’. Plus, there’s the dead-weight loss from the new energy taxes he’s proposing and the forced spending on health insurance, that are bound to dramatically shrink the economy.”

UPDATE: A hedge-fund reader disagrees with Althouse: “The deficit numbers are perfectly understandable when viewed as a fraction of GDP, and compared to parallel historic episodes. Obama is simply racing the US toward the insolvency tipping point.”

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on March 07, 2010 (boomark / email).