Talk Up The Economy

In the last fiscal year federal revenues came in $100 billion above the estimates of the Congressional Budget Office. That means that the federal deficit came in $100 billion lower than estimates. Think what that means.

It means, according to Newt Gingrich and David Merritt, that the econometric models the CBO uses to “score” the federal government’s activities are broken, and a new CBO director is needed to provide the American people with better tools to measure the performance of the government.

It means, according to Donald Lambro, that President Bush should get out more to talk about the strength of the economy, and also work early and often to extend the tax rate cuts that were enacted in 2003 and sent the economy into overdrive. “Here’s an economy that’s growing by more than 4 percent a year, producing 200,000 plus new jobs a month,” and the American people think the economy is in the tank. There’s a reason for that, of course. The president hasn’t been talking it up.

Of course, maybe the White House folks have been crazy like a fox. Maybe they have been quiet on progress on the economy and in Iraq because, not needing to fight any elections this year, they figured they could wait till now before determining how to present their story. And in the meanwhile the Democrats have overreached themselves with their gloom-and-doom rhetoric.

Anyway, it now looks as though the president will be talking all the time about the administration’s successes. He had better. The media ain’t gonna do it for him.