Our sinking economy....

Yesterday, the Office of Management Budget projected a $296 billion federal deficit for fiscal year 2006. President Bush held a press conference arguing that this announcement is a vindication of his economic policies: "The projected budget deficit over -- of over $420 billion is now assumed to be $296 billion. See, what happens is when you grow the economy by cutting taxes, more tax revenues come into the Treasury, and that's what we're seeing here." But in reality, the projected 2006 deficit would be the fourth largest in American history. In fact, the top four largest deficits have all been under Bush's tenure; the highest was $413 billion in 2004. When Bush came into office, he inherited a surplus of $284 billion. At that time, the administration predicted a $516 billion surplus for 2006. The fact that Bush now considers a $296 billion deficit an occasion to celebrate shows how far we've fallen.