New President Won't Have an Easy Time Paying for New Initiatives, Fiscal Experts Say

[That Guy]

On the presidential campaign trail, Democrat Barack Obama promises to "completely eliminate" income taxes for millions of Americans, from low-income working families to senior citizens who earn less than $50,000 a year.


Republican John McCain vows to double the exemption for dependents and slash the corporate income tax.


To which the folks who monitor the nation's financial situation can only say: Good luck. Because, back in Washington, tax collections are slowing, the budget deficit is rising, and the national debt is approaching $10 trillion. Whoever wins the White House this fall, fiscal experts say, is likely to have a tough time enacting expensive new initiatives, be they tax cuts or health care reform.

LINK:
washingtonpost.com



thought, with the policy threads, this is pretty relevant as far as putting a damper on initiatives.

spending on social security and medicare are slowly sucking up ever increasing funds and it's getting harder to pay for them along with everything else. of course, in the short term, bush's tax cuts and military spending have ballooned the deficit quite a bit too.