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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (25744)	2/5/2008 11:13:46 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

...While near-term deficits are a concern, many budget experts are bracing for much more serious fiscal problems in coming years as the baby boom generation's retirement causes spending on health care and other entitlements to explode. Conrad said the nation was less equipped to deal with those problems because of the national debt, which was expected to reach around $10 trillion by the time Bush leaves office -- close to double the $5.6 trillion level of 2001. UPBEAT ASSUMPTIONS Interest payments on the debt have ballooned above $200 billion a year, making them one of the fastest growing parts of the budget and rivaling the Iraq war in their annual cost. Also of concern to lawmakers is the potential that the near-term fiscal picture could be even worse than the scenario laid out in Bush's budget. They noted that underlying the budget are upbeat assumptions about U.S. economic growth this year. The White House has predicted the economy would grow by 2.7 percent this year, well above the predictions of the Blue Chip panel of private forecasters, which estimated growth at 2.2 percent. Budget analysts also say that the figures in the Bush budget understate the deficit because they only included a partial request for the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2009. The administration asked for $70 billion for those wars for next year. That is a fraction of the $193 billion Bush said would be needed in 2008. Nussle said the administration would request some more money for Iraq later in the year but he added that Bush wanted to let the next president "take possibly a fresh look at what's happening, both in terms of strategy and tactics, as well as the amount in the budget." Rising deficits to confront Bush's successor Tue Feb 5, 2008 7:24am EST By Caren Bohan - Analysis reuters.com