“It’s not over nothing. From your article:
“But Ryan, just like the last time he pontificated on the budget, doesn’t get to “balance” until 2040 — nearly 30 years hence.”
Tell me when we get to a balanced budget under Obama?”
Same time Ryan’s will balance, which is never, since even the math he uses is voodoo compounded on assumption. The fight between the Democrats and Republicans is a fight over nothing. Just smoke and mirrors.
Our federal government is currently running deficits that are 8% of GDP.
These are the largest deficits we have run since WW2.
It really isn’t necessary to balance the budget as long as we can get the federal deficit down to a sustainable level of 2% of GDP or less.
Then we can outgrow the federal debt just as we did after WW2.
You win the award of one of the most negative, sour nasty posters on FR, but after killing your brother, making negative comments on everything must be easy.
We will balance the budget one way or another. Greece has chosen the most difficult path.
2040 is not unreasonable. The problem is people want everything done now. I remember when I took out a loan on my house. Friends told me for years don’t bother paying it off, take the money and invest, etc. Well, my house has long since been paid for and I can retire early. Those same people are sitting in homes underwater and now are complaining about me retiring. 2040 is not that long from now-if we can tolerate the noise.
For example, Bush was surprised at how much extra revenue he collected from his tax cuts. He 'budgeted' extra money for them, but, apparently, "they don't cost money, they SAVE money". Welfare reform saved more money than budgeted, also, and the federal budget went in the black during Clinton's term. That wasn't predicted.
However, increasing spending always winds up costing more than expected. And increasing taxes never brings in the money politicians count on, if indeed it brings in any extra money at all.
Therefore, I believe that Ryan's budget will actually lower spending more than predicted, and bring in more revenue than predicted. If we have a culture of self reliance instead of a culture of dependence, that encourages more people to work instead of take benefits. Consider all the extra tax revenue from a roaring economy, to say nothing of all the extra oil and gas taxes and royalties from drilling on government land.