Balanced budgets with $2.5 trillion worth of exemptions

"President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed budget rules that would allow Congress to borrow tens of billions of dollars and put the nation deeper in debt to jump-start the administration's emerging health care overhaul. The "pay-as-you-go" budget formula plan is significantly weaker than a proposal Obama issued with little fanfare last month. It would carve out about $2.5 trillion worth of exemptions for Obama's priorities over the next decade."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/1089065.html

I don't think it needs to be said that a balanced budget with $2.5 trillion worth of exemptions is not a balanced budget.

But, please note that yesterday was a "twofer" - - two promises broken. They broke the "pay-as-you-go" promise, and they broke the "pay for healthcare reform with cost containment" promise.

Remember the good old days, when Bill Clinton balanced the budget by raising taxes to cover all deficits, and then started paying off the national debt by cutting spending to levels lower than income? That gave us a decade of peace and prosperity.