NO BUDGET CAN be judged in isolation. The baseline question is: compared to what?
Republicans will make much of President Obama’s failure to fulfill his promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. Given the shaky recovery, he’s right to break that promise. The short-term goal must be economic growth, not deficit-trimming. Taming the ever-growing pile of debt is a longer-term challenge.
On that goal, measured against his own fiscal commission, Mr. Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 falls short. At the end of the 10-year budget window, he would have the national debt at a disturbing 76.5 percent of gross domestic product. By comparison, the debt reduction plan envisioned by the Simpson-Bowles commission would reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio close to a more manageable, if still unhealthy, 60 percent.
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