Rep. Kevin McCarthy, one of the main authors of the GOP “Pledge to America,” can only come up with $100 million – that’s MILLION – in cuts, out of a $3 trillion – that’s 1,000 THOUSAND times greater than a million – federal budget. For the math challenged, McCarthy’s proposed cuts amount to 0.01% of the federal budget, leaving 99.99% of the federal budget – including entitlements (Medicare, Social Security), defense and interest on the debt; about 80% of the budget – intact. And he won’t name any non-defense discretionary programs he’d cut. Wow, is that bold or what? Of course, what else would you expect from a bunch of fresh-faced, fresh-ideas “Young Guns” like John BONEr and Eric Can’tor? On second thought…
UPDATE: Actually, as Paul Krugman points out in his superb article, “Downhill With the G.O.P.,” “there’s only one specific cut proposed – canceling the rest of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which Republicans claim (implausibly) would save $16 billion. That’s less than half of 1 percent of the budget cost of those tax cuts.”