Sunday, August 23, 2009

Obama Deficit Projection: Missed It By That Much!

On the 60's TV Program "Get Smart" (and in the 2008 movie), agent Maxwell Smart always attempted to try and minimize his failures by saying "Missed it by that much!" while holding his thumb and index finger up in the air so that only an inch or so separates them.

In that same vein, I guess the Obama Administration can, too, claim to have "missed it by that much" when it comes to talking about their projections for the 10-year budget deficit.

While it might seem like years ago, it was just in March when the Obama Administration predicted that the 10-year deficit would "only" reach $7.1 trillion dollars (Click to See A Very Pertinent Commentary on this Subject). The nay-sayers of that time, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and others (like myself), were all saying that this projection was just too rosy. In fact, the CBO said that the 10-year deficit would be more in the range of $9.3 trillion dollars.

Well, as of today, it is being reported by Reuters News that the Obama Administration will project the 10-year deficit to be $9 trillion dollars by the end of 2019; and, not the "rosy" $7.4 trillion projection of only 5 months ago (Click to See Full Story: "New deficit projections pose risks to Obama's agenda").

Statistically, that's an error rate of 12% in just 5 months. One can only wonder how far off they will be in a year's time! Maybe, double that with another 1-1/2 to 2 trillion dollars added to the $9 trillion? God help us if that's the case!

From all appearances, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had it right; but, then, their $9.3 trillion might also be understated when the impact of other spending is taken into consideration like the Cash for Clunkers program and the new, higher projections for Health Care reform and Cap and Trade.

Throughout the Health Care debate, the Congressional Budget Office has said that Obama-Care won't lower health care costs in this country; but, raise them. They have also said the impact on the budget deficits would be substantially higher than what is being projected by either the Congressional Democrats or the Obama Administration. Yet, Obama has steadfastly and vehemently denied that to be true.

Well, I think the CBO has proven itself to be closer to the truth than Obama and the Democrats with this latest 10-year budget shortfall. It just seems like a day doesn't go by where this Administration isn't being proven wrong.

Either they are totally incompetent or they are intentionally deceiving us; or, both. In any event, it is not good for America!

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