Economist Michael Boskin carries out arithmetic on the planned Obama budgets. He forecasts huge budget deficits towards the end of Obama’s presidency and an extra $6.5 trillion in national debt that taxpayers will bear – and this is before proposed increased Medicare and social security costs.

Boskin’s estimate deduces $6.5trillion of extra debt not a $2trillion reduction as Obama promises. Distributing this debt as taxes leaves the rich predictably slaughtered but also leaves tax bills of well over $100,000 for those on incomes of $150,000 which is far below Obama’s  tax-hike cut off of $250,000,  According to Boskin, “That’s a recipe for a permanent drag on growth and serious pressure on the Federal Reserve to inflate, not the new era of rising prosperity…’. The banana republic is with us… I’ll eagerly wait to read responses to Boskin’s arguments and will post them. Let us hope his arithmetic is out. Greg Mankiw cites Boskin without even a critical murmur.