Posted by
Always To The Right on Friday, October 31, 2008 3:11:59 PM
CBS analysis: Obama’s budgeted savings aren’t enough to pay for his new spending
Without question, the Barack Obama
infomercial served as a very slick and powerful recitation of the
biggest promises he's made as a presidential candidate. But the very
bigness of his ideas is the problem: he seems blind to the concept his
numbers don't add up.
Obama has already proposed a new stimulus package of $188 billion
over two years. His tax cuts will cost $85 billion a year. His "army of
new teachers": $18 billion; Renewable energy: $15 billion. CBS News and various independent experts estimate Obama's total first year spending could exceed $280 billion.
Most of the time he spends the Iraq savings in the context of the roads
he wants to build; sometimes it's for the teachers he wants to hire.
Tonight, he riffed rhetorically on the savings, asking how many
scholarships could be funded, or how many schools could be built. In
the end though, presuming he really saves $90 billion, he can only
spend it once.
Still Obama repeated his claim he can find the money to pay for every proposal.
"I've offered spending cuts above and beyond their cost," he has said.
The fact is the savings Obama has identified do not cover his spending. According to a CBS News
estimate, he's around $90 billion short. The Obama campaign disputes
this, saying everything including the stimulus is paid for over 10
years. But other analysts say - even presuming Obama saves money in
Iraq and chops the federal budget as promised - he falls short.