Debt-Limit Deal: Will the Cuts Be Phony? | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary

Debt-Limit Deal: Will the Cuts Be Phony? | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Looking at Congressional Budget Office projections, it is fairly easy to come up with $2 trillion in 'savings' without actually cutting anything."

"To construct the baseline, the CBO takes current spending and increases it over time by inflation. But nobody expects war spending to continue rising like that. Rather, spending is supposed to fall in coming years as troops are withdrawn."

"A deal that simply counts projected future savings against inflated discretionary baselines would be a fiscal fraud."