[Mb-civic] A Price To Be Paid For Folly - David Broder - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

A Price To Be Paid For Folly

By David S. Broder
Sunday, September 11, 2005; Page B07

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, credible private experts are 
forecasting a federal budget deficit of $500 billion for this year, a 
sharp reminder of the government's fiscal folly.

For all the deserved criticism the Bush administration has received for 
its tardy and ragged response to the storm's ravages on New Orleans and 
the Gulf Coast, the long-term costs to the nation of the reckless 
disregard both the president and Congress have shown toward paying the 
nation's bills may be even greater.

In time those forced from their homes in Louisiana and Mississippi will 
be returned, and a degree of order will be restored to their 
communities. Business will recover. Mardi Gras will again be celebrated 
in the French Quarter. But our children and grandchildren will pay a 
continuing price for the refusal of our leaders to face the reality of 
an out-of-control budget.

The scale of the failure is measured by a set of numbers that Rep. John 
Spratt of South Carolina, the senior Democrat on the House Budget 
Committee, carries with him. They chart the annual increases passed by 
Congress in the national debt limit. In 2002 it was $450 billion; in 
2003, $984 billion; in 2004, $800 billion; and this year, the House has 
passed an increase of another $781 billion, on which the Senate has yet 
to act. That totals a stunning $3 trillion in additional debt in four 
years -- a 50 percent increase in the cumulative debt from all of 
America's previous history.

When you look at that record, the self-congratulatory tone of the 
Republicans who have been running Washington seems absurdly unjustified. 
In July, when the White House Office of Management and Budget said the 
deficit for this year would decline to $333 billion from $412 billion in 
2004, President Bush said, "It's a sign that our economy is strong, and 
it's a sign that our tax relief plan, our pro-growth policies are working."

In August, when the Congressional Budget Office lowered the deficit 
forecast to $331 billion, Republican Rep. Jim Nussle of Iowa, the 
chairman of the House Budget Committee, said, "We're clearly on the 
right track. The strong economy, higher revenues and falling deficit 
projections are all results of the successful leadership and policies of 
the Congress and the president."

These judgments were faulty at the time. They made no provision for the 
continuing costs of the war in Iraq, or for the Republican plan to end 
the estate tax and make all the previous Bush tax cuts permanent. And, 
most of all, they did not realistically calculate the costs of the new 
Medicare prescription drug benefit and the looming obligations to the 
millions of baby boomers who are nearing retirement age.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090901820.html
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