CBO undermines Bush economics

The Congressional Budget Office released a report today showing that Bush's promise to cut the defecit in half within five years isn't likely attainable, the New York Times reports. CBO's report states that if no changes are made to existing law, the deficit would "decline only modestly from a record of $422 billion in 2004 to about $312 billion in 2009," according to the NYT. If Congress makes permanent the Bush tax cuts - as Bush has also promised to do - CBO estimates the deficit will actually increase to $500 billion within five years.

Congressman Jim Nussle (R-IA) refuted the report, saying it only "underscores that our policies are working to create a stronger economy, more jobs and a lower deficit." While both the CBO and the Administration are notoriously bad at predicting the flux of the economy, spinning this report as a positive economic indicator doesn't exactly ring true. Regardless of inaccuracies on either side, it's apparent that Bush can't have it both ways - either he keeps the tax cuts or he keeps his defecit promise.

When you can have it both ways without anyone noticing, however, why make the choice?