even W had acquiesced to the fact that the nation was in the midst of a recession during the waning months of his 2nd term. undaunted, O has met the challenge head on, with sensible and measured economic policies. make no mistake, there are signs that recession may be near bottom http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090402/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy
I'm almost positive that the extrapolated curve is from the OMB's figures on Medicare and Social Security liabilities. That extrapolation requires that we ignore those those liabilities like they won't come, and we wouldn't do that, would we? The Republican budget "addresses" this by giving power to charge future Medicare recipients an income-scaled premium for their benefit, and assuming that tweak will keep Medicare costs to a constant portion of GDP. It's not quite as silly as Democrats ignoring the crisis, but it's not much better.
weslinder, entitlement programs are a great topic, as is Democrats being in denial about medicare costs. But 2080 is an idiotic topic, in my opinion. And even you are speculating when trying to imagine where that infamous and embarrassing "graph" came from or what relation it has to OMB. I am honestly open to hearing details on the "graph's" scientific basis though. Any such extrapolation needs uncertainty though, and the uncertainty to 2080, I assure you, if it's honestly approximated, would drawf the differences in these 2009 budgets. I come back to the same point. Predict the 2080 Rockets record based on who they draft in Summer 2009.
