Can McCain Balance The Budget In Four Years?
Can McCain Balance The Budget In Four Years?
It’s not a joke. John McCain is now promising he can balance the budget in four years. What do you think? Here is an interesting clip addressing McCain’s plans for the economy…
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He doesn’t seem to be convincing many people on this latest plan for the economy…
From TPM…
Now, the general routine is the face of this kind of candidate announcement is that journalists and economists look at the numbers to see if they add up. In most cases, the exercises generates fairly unsatisfying contradictory opinions, with some experts saying one thing and other experts another.
But here’s the thing. McCain doesn’t have any numbers. None. Not vague numbers of fuzzy math. He just says he’s going to do it. Any other candidate would get laughed off the stage with that kind of nonsense or more likely reporters just wouldn’t agree to give them a write up. But this is all over the place.
The simple truth is that given his foreign policy promises in Iraq and tax cut promises at home there’s really no way McCain could come up with even a fuzzy plan to balance the budget in his first term. So he’s decided instead just promise it. Included in his white paper is just the standard hocum about cutting waste, fraud and abuse in government and making sure we have “reasonable economic growth.”
Remember, this is the guy who’s riding on his reputation for ‘straight talk’. And he’s just promised that he’ll balance the budget in his first term.
From Joshing Politics…
That pink sugary stuff is flowing faster and faster out of the tap over at the McCain household these days. Sure, he’s had his delusions for a long time now, but this one about the economy, the war and somehow balancing the budget in four years has got to be one of his loonier suggestions to date.
From The Daily Kos
SusanG at Kos said it best:
“just because I stop charging on my credit card doesn’t mean I’m suddenly making income to pay off the debt I’ve run up, does it?”
So the next time John McCain admits that he knows nothing about economics, better believe him.
What do you think about the McCain plan to balance the budget in four years? Is it straight talk or crazy talk?
[cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog]
Comments
Comment from Catherine Morgan
Time: July 8, 2008, 12:07 pm
I totally agree Pamela.
Comment from Pamela Lyn
Time: July 8, 2008, 12:01 pm
Let’s look at the facts.
The US currently has a 9.5 trillion dollar National Debt. It is estimated that the cost of the Iraq war will run into the $$$ trillions. Fighting is escalating in Afghanistan. This summer’s flooding and broken levees in the Midwest will have have a longterm impact on America’s agricultural economy. There are raging wildfires in the Southwest and drought in the Southeast. America’s energy grid infrastructure is antiquated.
And John McCain states that he will balance the budget in four years. Where is the revenue going to come from to keep the government running, much less balance the budget. To say that he is delusional is kind.
Following the havoc wrought by the policies of the Bush/Cheney administration, I doubt that either McCain or Obama will be able to balance the US budget in two terms.