DEFICIT – HIDING THE PRICE TAG
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| Wed, 09-15-2004 - 5:12pm |
What Bush did not say was that he himself was proposing an agenda with an even bigger price tag. As the Washington Post reports, the administration's own cost estimates show the expense of Bush's second term proposals is "likely to be well in excess of $3 trillion over a decade."
Specifically, Bush's proposal to make his tax cuts permanent "would reduce government revenue by about $1 trillion" while his Social Security privatization plan "could cost the government $2 trillion."
The president has had little to say about the deficit as he barnstorms across the country, prompting critics – including conservative groups – "to say Bush refuses to admit there will not be enough money in government coffers to pay for many of his plans."
The silence is an interesting contrast to all the flip-flopping declarations about the deficit the administration has previously issued.
