A trillion here, a trillion there

Pretty soon it adds up to real money, as Everett Dirkson (1896-1969), a Republican Congressman and Senator from the state of Illinois during most of the 1950s and 1960s, may or may not have once said about "billions" of dollars.

Earlier today, the Bush Administration unveiled a $3.1 trillion spending plan for fiscal year 2009. This was the first time that a proposed budget topped the $3 trillion mark, however, no one really has any concept of just how big a number that is and, therefore, no one really seems to know or care if it is too big, too small, or just right.

According to this report from the Associated Press, with increased spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the budget deficit is expected to exceed $400 billion in each of the next two years, a figure that would be even higher if proper accounting were to be performed for social security money flows.

Oh yeah, there's that new government stimulus plan to finance too...

Part of the deficit increase this year and next reflects the cost of a $145 billion stimulus package of tax refunds for individuals and tax cuts for business investment that Bush is urging Congress to pass quickly to try to combat a threatened recession.

Bush projects that the deficit will decline rapidly starting in 2010 and will achieve a $48 billion balance in 2012.

But Democrats said that forecast was based on flawed math that only included $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009 and no money after that and also failed to include any provisions after this year for keeping the alternative minimum tax, originally aimed at the wealthy, from ensnaring millions of middle-class taxpayers. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that fixing the AMT in 2012 would cost $118 billion, more than double the surplus Bush is projecting for that year.

Even some Republicans faulted Bush's budget sleight of hand.

"They've obviously played an inordinate number of games to try to make it look better," Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Budget Committee, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Well, as long as it looks good - this is an election year after all.