Trump's Budget Shows His Top Priority Is Refusing to Deal With Reality

President Donald J. Trump has produced a very silly budget proposal. Thankfully, presidential budget proposals have all the effect of a mouse passing gas in a hurricane -- Congress, not the president, actually appropriates funds and writes the tax code. Presidential budget proposals are not received as actual fiscal blueprints but as statements of priorities, and so we must conclude that President Trump's top priority is refusing to deal with reality. Here's the situation: About 80 percent of federal spending is consumed by five things: 1. National defense; 2. Social Security; 3. Medicare; 4. Medicaid and other related health-care benefits; 5. Interest on the debt. President Trump wants to increase spending on defense by about 10 percent while shielding Social Security and Medicare from cuts. Short of a default, he doesn't have any choice but to pay the interest on the debt. So that leaves things pretty tight. On top of that, he wants to pass what he boasts is one of the largest tax cuts in history. And balance the budget. Naturally, the White House budget monkeys are messing with the numbers a little bit. It's the return of the Naïve Supply-Sider.   Continue reading...

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