George's Budget

George W Bush. George F*cking Bush! ARRRRRRGH!

The Guardian (a UK paper) has a little writeup on the President's proposed budget. He's following up on his pledge to "cut the deficit in half" by gouging into government programs, foreign aid & the environment.

Fortunately for all of us freedom loving people, he's upping the budget for the Defense Department and the Dept of Homeland Security.

It appears his math is a little shady, as in this case halving the budget deficit requires pushing the deficit estimate up. Also worth noting, Bush's "halving" of the deficit doesn't account for the cost of the Iraq war, the borrowing for the proposed overhaul of social security, or making his tax-cuts permanent. All three things to which he is firmly com-mit-ted.

But my favorite part of the article is this quote from the Pres himself:

"It's a budget that sets priorities," Mr Bush said. "It's a budget that reduces and eliminates redundancy. It's a budget that's a lean budget."

Talk about redundancy. He used the phrase "It's a budget that" three times in a row. It's like he's singing the chorus to a dumb pop song. But it's going to work. Because not even Paul Krugman can explain all that's wrong with Bush's schemes in less than 1000 words.

Dammit!