Kudos to the Chicago Tribune for calling out politicians like Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum who routinely stump on the campaign trail that they will tackle the out of control deficit.
In fact, none of these politicians have any plan to decrease the deficit, but only to add to it!
As the Chicago Tribune reported:
GOP hopefuls Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are touting policies that would push the debt well beyond current projections, largely because their proposed tax cuts would outweigh spending cuts, the budget watchdog group reports.
Under Obama’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, the nation’s public debt would rise to 80 percent of gross domestic product over the next decade, from about 70 percent today. Gingrich’s plan would push that debt load to 114 percent of GDP, Santorum’s to 104 percent and Romney’s to between 85 percent and 96 percent. Paul’s plan would put the debt at 76 percent of GDP.
For the record, not that it seems to make a difference to the candidates, any amount over 60 percent is generally considered too much.
So these are the voters’ options: Too much debt, or way too much debt? What a bitter disappointment.
We understand that in an election year, proposed budget plans should be taken at less than face value. No doubt the details of these proposals represent general principles, not the specific legislation that would eventually pass and be signed into law.
This should be yet another lesson that rhetoric is cheap and easy but an actual plan that shows where cuts will have to be made is politically expensive and difficult.Because voters tend to vote based on the rhetoric and not the actual concrete plans, this lack of any actual plan for deficit reduction will probably not impact the results of the election.
Don’t fall for lofty promises when you can see the actual plans that these politicians have put forth.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @AdamBitely.
