Semi-Daily Journal Archive

The Blogspot archive of the weblog of J. Bradford DeLong, Professor of Economics and Chair of the PEIS major at U.C. Berkeley, a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Deficit Hawks Want Bush's Tax Cuts to Expire. Deficit Turkeys Don't

Jason Furman and Robert Greenstein write:

What the New Trustees' Report Shows about Social Security, 5/1/06: Anyone concerned about Social Security'9s long-term impact on the federal budget ought to be even more concerned about the long-term fiscal impact of extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. If made permanent, the tax cuts will cost nearly three times as much, over the next 75 years, as the 75-year deficit in Social Security (see Figure 1). Any attempt to address the looming fiscal challenges should include Social Security, Medicare (and the U.S. health care system as a whole), and overall government revenues.

I agree. Anyone who claims to be a "deficit hawk" who favors extending Bush's tax cuts is not a deficit hawk, but a deficit turkey.

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