Oh, my. Rather than answering my question — where are these big new Obama programs? — he points to CBO projections showing that spending on mandatory programs is expected to remain high in 2021.
He has to know — or has no business writing about budget issues if he doesn’t know — what that’s mainly about: it’s about the baby boomers hitting retirement age, plus the continuing rise in health care costs. Baby boom starts in 1946; 65 years after that is …? I mean, we’ve been hearing tons about the demographic deluge (exaggerated, but still a very real factor). And Taylor presents budget projections that are mainly driven by that demography as if they represented a massive Obama initiative?
Back to my original point: the actual rise in the spending/GDP ratio under Obama represents (1) weak GDP (2) safety net programs. It’s not a huge expansion of government. No amount of dodging can change that fact.
