Brad DeLong and Michael Kinsley on the Short- and the Long-Term Deficit: Seeing the Light

Seeing the Light:

In June of 2009 the Congressional Budget Office estimated America's lon-run deficit problem--the 50-year fiscal gap--at 2.6% of the GDP in its "extended baseline" scenario. In June of 2010 its estimate was 0.8%. Between June of 2009 and June of 2010 three things happened to change CBO's estimates: 1. economic conditions deteriorated more than expected; 2. Congress passed and the president signed the 2010 PPACA--health care reform; 3. Congress passed and the president...