Krugman admits it: Pres. Obama was right & he was wrong. (Good move, Paul)

[DallasNE]

52. Again, You Seem To Be Confusing Budget And Appropriations

Neither TARP nor the stimulus were in the 2009 budget. Those were appropriations after the budget and much of TARP and the auto bailout was paid back later anyway. Forget about the budget and the false claim on the size of the increase and focus on actual spending increases. The increases under Obama are the smallest since President Eisenhower -- so much for the false claim on restraint because restraint is already in place. Also, focus on revenue when looking at the size of the deficit. The deficit exploded with the Bush tax cuts along with the stimulus tax cuts passed by Obama. The recent fiscal cliff deal only partly addressed the revenue issue. That is why Obama is still saying a balanced approach is needed on all future deals. Bush's last year saw a $1.4 trillion deficit and that remains the record. Projections have the deficit coming down if we do nothing -- just not fast enough -- and that is why more changes are needed. The two areas needs the most fixing are Medicare to constrain costs and defense spending that has continued to increase even as we end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and much of it is on weapons the military says aren't wanted or needed -- though they are wanted by the defense contractors -- remember the threat that cutting military spending would cost 1 million jobs, equating military spending with stimulus spending, which it is not.

Incidentally, the budget Bush proposed for 2009 was dead on arrival in the Congress and never brought to a vote. The one that passed had little resemblance to the budget that Bush presented -- another reason to ignore the budget dance that takes place every year. It is all grandstanding because it is not binding. Appropriations are the binding document as they tell the President how much to spend and where.