Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                            Bridget Brown    Matthew Dulin 
Geronimo Rodriguez      Keenan Singleton     Lisa Street

Hide the wallet

The federal budget deficit will be $455 billion, roughly 50 percent larger than the White House's February estimate, which did not include the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Blame it on the economy, the cost of the War in Iraq or the administration's tax cuts for the revenue shortfall, but the truth is that since he took office, President Bush has yet to curb spending at all. In fact, despite petitions to Congress, the administration's spending has increased 13.5 percent, and Bush has yet to veto any spending bills.Wait -- isn't this guy a conservative?

The government is increasing spending in an effort to pump money back into the waning economy so that in time, the deficit will close. This is not only a gamble, but if history serves correctly, it is highly unlikely. For this to happen, the economy would have to grow extremely fast and the stock market would have to rise. This careless overspending will more than likely end up putting the United States in the midst of a downward spiral toward more debt.

"Restoring a balanced budget is an important priority for this administration," White House budget director Joshua B. Bolten told The Washington Post. "But a balanced budget is not a higher priority than winning the global war on terror, protecting the American homeland, or restoring economic growth and job creation."

Although these are important issues, just how much will the United States government spend before it realizes a larger deficit leads to increased vulnerability? What if the country was to face another terrorist attack, despite homeland security? More money would have to be shelled out, and with Bush's overspending, large amounts would be hard to come by.

As it stands, the government is expecting to take on $1.9 trillion in new debt over the next five years, and long after war costs have subsided and the economy has recovered, the country could still see a deficit of $226 billion by 2008.

Bolten called the deficit figures "a legitimate subject of concern" but "manageable." He gave no new proposals of what types of spending cuts would balance the budget. 

The government wants us to believe that the budget is simply built into the fabric of its finances and we should all just accept it. If overspending continues, we may not have a choice.