Is Rand Paul’s ‘Extraordinary’ Idea, A Balanced Federal Budget, A Plausible Goal?
Sen. Rand Paul is campaigning for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination as a man who wants to upend the ways of Washington. In one way, though, he’s a creature of the nation’s capital: He carries on a long tradition of promising the implausible, if not the impossible, on the budget. The Kentucky senator opened his campaign this week with the “extraordinary” thought that the federal government should be forced to spend no more than it takes in. This, while cutting taxes, increasing military spending….Paul told his campaign kickoff crowd Tuesday: “Currently, some $3 trillion comes into the U.S. Treasury. Couldn’t the country just survive on $3 trillion? I propose we do something extraordinary. Let’s just spend what comes in.” What comes in: The government is projected to collect $3.5 trillion in revenue next year. Where it goes: Of that money, nearly $2.5 trillion will go to Social Security, Medicare and other automatically paid benefit programs, and $277 billion will pay interest on the debt. That’s according to projections from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Read more…