A deep bottom; Budget review little reason for cheering.COLUMN: IN OUR OPINION The Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), formerly the Bureau of the Budget, is an agency of the federal government that evaluates, formulates, and coordinates management procedures and program objectives within and among departments and agencies of the Executive Branch. , the Cabinet-level office charged with guiding the president's budgetary policies, is out with its annual mid-session review, and to anyone concerned about the long-term financial health of the country the question isn't whether American taxpayers will be digging themselves out of a hole in years to come. The question is how deep that hole will be. The good news, so-called, is that OMB OMB abbr. Office of Management and Budget Noun 1. OMB - the executive agency that advises the President on the federal budget Office of Management and Budget now expects the short-term deficits to be smaller than previously anticipated, primarily because the administration has "decided to remove from the budget a placeholder place·hold·er n. 1. One who holds an office or place, especially: a. One who acts as a deputy or proxy. b. One who holds an appointed office in a government. 2. for further financial stabilization efforts that seemed prudent earlier this year." That hints at no new bailouts in the last months of 2009. Before breathing more easily, consider that OMB now projects a 10-year deficit for 2010-2019 at $9.05 trillion. OMB blames that on the administration having "inherited a deeper recession than projected in February." It is important to note that these projections could be wildly inaccurate. Better-than-anticipated (or worse) rates of economic growth, or small changes in tax policy, could have outsized out·size n. 1. An unusual size, especially a very large size. 2. A garment of unusual size. adj. also out·sized Unusually large, weighty, or extensive. Adj. 1. effects on budgets and deficits a decade out. Congress could hit upon just the right combination of reforms to control health-care costs, erasing much of the projected deficits. And the executive and legislative branches are far from helpless in effecting real savings, if they really want to do so. But don't count on that. For far too long, Democrats and Republicans alike have done little to ensure the long-term financial stability of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. All three are demographic time bombs, with daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin long-term deficits. Meanwhile, other spending - on education, infrastructure, agriculture subsidies Payments by the federal government to producers of agricultural products for the purpose of stabilizing food prices, ensuring plentiful food production, guaranteeing farmers' basic incomes, and generally strengthening the agricultural segment of the national economy. , foreign aid, you name it - continues unabated un·a·bat·ed adj. Sustaining an original intensity or maintaining full force with no decrease: an unabated windstorm; a battle fought with unabated violence. . Politicians rarely see fit to say no to anyone or anything. Indeed, OMB's analysis shows that federal spending will reach $30,958 per American household in 2009, some 26 percent of gross domestic product. That compares with federal spending of between 18 percent and 21 percent of GDP GDP (guanosine diphosphate): see guanine. in every year since World War II, and does not take into account the impact of what could be $1 trillion health-care reform legislation. Somehow, we think the republic will survive all this. But for taxpayers, the hole is getting very deep, indeed. |
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