"$3 Trillion Price Tag Left Out As Bush Details His Agenda" and we say???

[sundancekid]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18876-2004Sep13.html

Analysis
$3 Trillion Price Tag Left Out As Bush Details His Agenda

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 14, 2004; Page A01

The expansive agenda President Bush laid out at the Republican National Convention was missing a price tag, but administration figures show the total is likely to be well in excess of $3 trillion over a decade.

A staple of Bush's stump speech is his claim that his Democratic challenger, John F. Kerry, has proposed $2 trillion in long-term spending, a figure the Massachusetts senator's campaign calls exaggerated. But the cost of the new tax breaks and spending outlined by Bush at the GOP convention far eclipses that of the Kerry plan.

Bush's pledge to make permanent his tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2010 or before, would reduce government revenue by about $1 trillion over 10 years, according to administration estimates. His proposed changes in Social Security to allow younger workers to invest part of their payroll taxes in stocks and bonds could cost the government $2 trillion over the coming decade, according to the calculations of independent domestic policy experts.

And Bush's agenda has many costs the administration has not publicly estimated. For instance, Bush said in his speech that he would continue to try to stabilize Iraq and wage war on terrorism. The war in Iraq alone costs $4 billion a month, but the president's annual budget does not reflect that cost.

more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18876-20...

What do we say to this $3 trillion price tag? Who pays/benefits??
How can Kerry capitalize on this revelation???

[wkirby]

1. You're absolutely right . . .

Great article, thanks for posting it. I think that if Kerry were interested in making this an issue he'd be highly successful in not only pointing out that Bush is a President who doesn't believe in fiscal responsibility, but he's one that'll compromise what he believes in for politics. That would undercut everything that he bases his Presidency on - decisive leadership. I think that Kerry could really weaken Bush's base, but I doubt he'll go for it. It opens him up to criticism oh his stance to raise taxes. Kerry's too weak to try and tackle that.

-Will

P.S. I wrote an article on Bush's fiscal policy: http://www.wkirby.com/index.php?p=69

[Only Me]

2. I disagree that Kerry is too weak to try to tackle the Budget issues..

He has talked about these issues in some of the speeches I have read.
He also outlines some of his purposals on his website...
www.JohnKerry.com. He discusses some of the issues there and his stand on those issues. The pdf form link is Their Tax Reform Plan...
http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/tax_reform.

[flaminbats]

3. moan and groan like a Republican..the President doesn't spend a dime!

no, the President just gets approval for unlimited amounts of money in Iraq. Not that this would be spending money, more like dropping it out of a plane.

Too bad this Republican Congress doesn't spend a dime either, it just hands our limitless dollars over for this administration to just waste away!

[1smart]

4. My 3 year old is going to be pissed!

I can't help but sit back and think how the future is going to
be. It simply boggles my mind that people think this
economy/deficit/administration (the big picture) is working!
I've noticed GW is losing a lot of his staff - most likely to
the fact that they know the truth. A rat abandons the ship
when it is sinking. Hopefully in 4 years we can sit back and
have a good laugh.

[Massacure]

5. George Bush is more tax and spend liberal than John Kerry!

Pass it around.