A huge deficit to come

"This country has many challenges," President George W. Bush declared in this year's State of the Union address. "We will not deny, we will not ignore, we will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other presidents, and other generations. We will confront them with focus and clarity and courage."

It turns out, not to my surprise, that Bush is an absolute liar about the above. Eviscerating the government's spending base with tax cuts for the rich will only worsen a deficit which, we now learn, promises to reach higher than $44 trillion in the coming years. Not only that, but Bush and his cronies have been trying to hide this fact. According to the Financial Times,

The Bush administration has shelved a report commissioned by the Treasury that shows the U.S. currently faces a future of chronic federal budget deficits totaling at least $44 trillion in current U.S. dollars.

The study, the most comprehensive assessment of how the U.S. government is at risk of being overwhelmed by the “baby boom” generation’s future healthcare and retirement costs, was commissioned by then-Treasury secretary Paul O’Neill.

But the Bush administration chose to keep the findings out of the annual budget report for fiscal year 2004, published in February, as the White House campaigned for a tax-cut package that critics claim will expand future deficits.

The study asserts that sharp tax increases, massive spending cuts or a painful mix of both are unavoidable if the U.S. is to meet benefit promises to future generations. It estimates that closing the gap would require the equivalent of an immediate and permanent 66 percent across-the-board income tax increase.

In other words, kiss Medicare and Social Security good-bye.