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
- Golden
- Rock Solid
- Fudge
- Jello
- Marshmallow
- Cream Puff
- Nauseous
- Gaseous
- Imaginary
- 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.