Snippets from the Papes

Jared Bernstein goes after a Washington Post editorial.

"It accuses both President Obama and Gov Romney of not having credible deficit reduction plans, in part because they don’t go after entitlements.  In fact, the President’s budget, as scored not just by the White House but by CBO, stabilizes the debt/GDP ratio over the 10-year budget window (see Table 1 here, bottom line).  It also cuts hundreds of billions from Medicare and Medicaid (some will recall Republicans, including Romney, attacking the President both for not going after entitlements and for cutting Medicare)."

"The most comparable score we have regarding Gov Romney’s proposal—which is understandably much less fleshed out than the President’s (presidents submit budgets; candidates are strategically vague)—is the Tax Policy Center’s estimate that his tax cuts would add $5 trillion to the deficit over ten years. So no, they’re not really particularly comparable."