One of the Bush objectives for the second term is to reduce the annual deficit by 50%. That would mean by 2008, the United States would still be running an annual budget deficit of over $200 billion every year. There are many who believe other objectives set out by President Bush such as making the tax cuts permanent, changing Social Security with even more debt and paying for his prescription drug plan will make even cutting the deficit in half impossible.
Even if he somehow can manage to cut the annual deficit in half the country has lost. When George W. Bush took office the total federal deficit stood at $5.7 trillion. By the time he leaves office it will be at least $9 trillion. His objective of cutting future annual increases in half does not deal with the issue that he and his predecessors since 1980 have created the $ 9 Trillion debt. Many people believe that this is just a BIG number. When interest rates returned to their historic nourns and the treasury is forced to pay these rates on the huge debt that has been created, the impact of what Mr. Bush and Mr. Reagan have done will be clear.
In 1980 we embrace this idiocy whereby we cut taxes and increase spending thus creating a structural deficit. George W. would have us believe the deficit is because of 9/11 and the recession. The truth is we have run a deficit in 21 of the last 24 years because we refused to bring our tax revenue equal to our spending. In 1980 the national debt stood at less than $1 trillion. Reagan added three trillion, George H. W. and Clinton added another 1.7 trillion and Georege W is well on his way to add another 3.3 trillion for a total of $9 Trillion by 2008 if Bush keeps his promise.
Our objective should be to create a $ 200 Billion annual surplus to be applied to the total debt. To repay the roughly $9 trillion in debt that will most likely be on the books when George W. Bush retires to Texas, it will take the United States 30 years at $200 billion a year to repay the deficit created by our irresponsible fiscal policy. Even the Bush supporters will be dismayed when they see how much annual interest has increased and what it will due to their taxes in the future! That increased interest will come off the top and will take the money we need for Medicare, Social Security, education, national defense and the rebuilding of our infrastructure which is falling apart as we speak. The objective of George W. Bush, even if he cuts the annual deficit to $200 billion annually is a bankrupt tax and fiscal policy for the US. The interest could reach $500 Billion per year which is more than we spend on National defense. That interest will never end untill we repay the debt which can not even begin under the Bush policy!!!!!
The Bush objective of a $200 Billion dollar deficit needs to be changed into a $200 Billion surplus. That makes Bush about $400 Billion off the mark EVERY YEAR. Not bad for a Harvard MBA!