Word: budgeteer
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...fair, it is unlikely that this is the route that the president will ultimately take. For starters, the CBO projections, on out years, have a significant built-in margin of error. Still, in an interview Friday, Peter Orszag, Obama's Budget Director, admitted that long-term deficits projected by the CBO "would lead to rising debt-to-GDP ratios in a manner that would ultimately not be sustainable." He was not alone. As soon as the report came out, even Democrats who support the President's policies said that the budget would have to be rethought. "We have...
...does not deteriorate any faster than already expected. "I think it's easy to exaggerate fluctuations in the deficit projections, which are driven by small changes in underlying assumptions," Orszag told reporters. "I also recognize that despite that, the CBO numbers are going to be the basis for the budget resolution...
...devil, in other words, will be in the details. There are early indications that Obama will have to sacrifice more of his own "worthy priorities" to maintain a responsible budget. For weeks, Obama's economic advisers have been repeating the mantra that times of crises are times of opportunity. It is a thesis well founded in Keynsian economics, since the federal government has great incentives to stimulate the economy by taking on more debt during downturns. About a month ago, a senior administration official explained the dynamic this way. "It's actually easier to do expansive economic policy...
...Obama's central theme is being tested. The discussion is now likely to return to the promise Obama made last month, when he told Congress that he was willing to "sacrifice some worthy priorities" to make his budget responsible. White House aides say that the president has already made significant sacrifices by scaling back his campaign promises in the current budget. To make the numbers balance under a rosier outlook, Obama shrunk the size of the "Make-Work-Pay" tax credit by 20%, to $800 per family. He slowed down his foreign aid spending plans, scrapped a plan to reduce...
...Those measures created a budget that was arguably sustainable once upon a time, with deficits that were smaller than the projected annual growth in the economy, while Obama still managed to make significant investments in education, energy and health care. But the economy appears to be shifting. And unless Obama finds a way to shift as well, or the economy recovers in a way some economists now think unlikely, Obama's new "Era of Responsibility" may be viewed by historians as no more than another predictable attempt by a political leader to repaint the sides of a sinking ship...