The Post (a.k.a. Fox on 15th Street) only told readers the second part of this story. CBO projected that the deficit would exceed 42 percent of GDP in 2080 under its baseline assumptions. This is like telling people what the deficit would be after a nuclear war without calling attention to the fact that the projection assumes a nuclear war. If the health care costs underlying these projections prove accurate, the economy will be so badly wrecked, no one will care about the size of the deficit.
-- Dean Baker
