STIMULUS SCARE-MONGERING

If you spend money EVERY month like you do during Christmas or when you're on vacation you will end up spending more than you plan to at the end of the year, right? But who, in their right mind, budgets or plans like this? Apparently the right-wing Washington Times does.

The Washington Times is claiming that the $787 billion stimulus bill will balloon up to $3.2 billion because of the assumptions they asked the Congressional Budget Office to calculate and incorporate into the stimulus package. While obscuring the fact that they asked for the new scenario, the Washington Times then claimed that,

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the full cost of this bill, including its $348 billion debt service and the out-year financing, will reach $3.2 trillion by 2019.

In layman's terms, they're asking you to belive that if you include interest payments on inflated debt (which republicans never did with Bush) and extend programs beyond their expiration date ("out-year financing") the "true cost" of the stimulus package will grow to $3.2 trillion.

Got that? If you spend throughout the year like you do during Christmas your expenses will grow like a hydra-headed monster. Boo!

This is pathetic. Still, the Washington Times' thinks mythical scenarios are perfectly OK to project. After all, we need to believe that spending is out of control under President Obama.

Here are the facts.

Media Matters checked with the CBO, and found that "the $787 billion bill can only explode to $3.2 trillion if Congress extends more than 20 provisions in the recovery bill" - which the bill does not do.

I wonder how long it will be before FOX News and Rush Limbaugh are running with the Washington Times' story ...

- Mark

UPDATE: It appears that it won't be FOX News or Rush the Comedian spreading the $3.2 trillion spending nonsense first, it's Lou Dobbs . . .



UPDATE, II: OK, now it's FOX's turn.