Lost horizon.

• Author: Sanchez, Julian
• Position: Data - Brief Article

Last summer, when the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its annual mid-session review of the budget, OMB director (and former assistant to the president) Joshua Bolten had some great news: "Because the president's economic policies are working, we are ahead of pace to meet the goal of cutting the deficit in half within five years."

When politicians promise a good outcome five years hence, it's a good idea to check what follows in year six. The OMB, which answers to the White House, stops making deficit projections exactly five years out. And its projections have to assume current law. That means they assume the Bush tax cuts expire, even though "the president's economic policies" include a plan to make them permanent, and that the alternative minimum tax...