Does anyone have a plan that isn’t a joke?

Sadie sent me a link to a post about the various budget plans, all of which turn out to be hogwash.  The link is below, but it’s really an excuse for me to ask a question I wanted to ask anyway.  Is anyone in Washington pushing a realistic plan?  Is there, for example, a “Tea Party” plan that actually addresses the deficit/debt issue?  Do any of the Republican presidential candidates have a plan?  We’ve talked here about what we’d like to see, personally, but I’m asking here about plans by people in the public eye, actually being considered by lawmakers and potential lawmakers.

 

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/07/rating-obama-reid-and-boehner-deficit.html

With that backdrop, it’s time to rate the Obama, Reid, and Boehner Deficit reduction plans on a credibility scale.

10-Point
Credibility Scale

  1. Golden
  2. Rock Solid
  3. Fudge
  4. Jello
  5. Marshmallow
  6. Cream Puff
  7. Nauseous
  8. Gaseous
  9. Imaginary
  10. Delusional

Scoring the Proposals

  • Given a $1.4 trillion deficit, the latest plan from Boehner to cut a minuscule $85 billion a year (and back-loaded at that) is somewhere between nauseous and gaseous. It’s no wonder that various Tea-Party members will not vote for it.
  • Obama’s plan is imaginary or delusional depending on whether or not the President actually believes he has a plan, when he doesn’t.
  • Parts of Senator Reid’s plan are gaseous and the rest is clearly imaginary.
  • In contrast, the gang-of-six $4 trillion deficit cutting plan has something of the consistency of Jello, fudge, or marshmallow depending on details that were never disclosed.

$4 trillion sounds like a lot but it is only $400 billion a year, while the deficit is $1.4 trillion. Thus it’s tough to give that plan a rating higher than Jello, and impossible to give it a rating higher than fudge.

At this late juncture, the best one can reasonably hope for is a nauseous resolution. Unfortunately, the odds now favor something between gaseous and imaginary with delusional a distinct possibility.

The higher the score, the lower the credibility, and the better for gold.