The NYT gives its usual non-informative budget reporting this morning when discussing the extension of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. It reports that Senator Hillary Clinton and Representative John Dingell are proposing to triple the size of the program at a cost of $50 billion (above current levels) over the next five years. Is this a lot of money? Well, $10 billion a year is equal to approximately 0.3 percent of projected spending over this period. Alternatively, it comes to about $33 per person per year over this period. In compartive terms, it is less than what the United States spends in 3 weeks on the war in Iraq.
--Dean Baker
