Heritage: Three key messages emerge from the updated budget outlook released today by the Congressional Budget Office:
1. For the fourth year in a row, the federal government in 2012 will run a budget deficit exceeding $1 trillion;
2. The nation’s fiscal and economic challenges going forward remain both daunting and unaddressed, with continued record spending and deficits and high unemployment; and
3. Another recession threatens in 2013 if Congress fails to defuse Taxmageddon and the fiscal cliff.
Beyond the immediate, the outlook remains threatening. Assuming current policies, CBO projects that spending will continue its record-setting climb, reaching $6 trillion—or 24.1 percent of GDP—by 2022. That spending—driven mainly by the three major entitlements: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security — will outpace tax revenue, resulting in deficits that never fall below $800 billion throughout the decade.
Umm, is the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office still not factoring in the mother of all entitlements: OBAMACARE? Oh yeah, we're still supposed to pretend that's deficit neutral.
To change course, Congress first needs to cast off its cavalier disregard for budgeting and begin taking seriously this fundamental responsibility of governing. Then, with a renewed sense of urgency and responsibility, Congress and the President should get about the core business of restraining entitlement spending, which is, after all, the main driver of the budget crisis before the nation.
Will never happen unless Obama and his cohorts are ousted...and then we've still got a whole lot of work to do, America.
