Mr. McCain is pledging to balance the budget by the end of his first term as president in 2013, his advisers said Monday, reverting to an earlier pledge that the Arizona senator had abandoned in April when he proposed a series of costly tax cuts for corporations and high earners, and said it might take two terms to balance the budget.
“American workers and families pay their bills and balance their budgets, and I will demand the same of the government,” Mr. McCain said at a town hall-style meeting here.
But it is unclear how Mr. McCain plans to balance the budget, given that fiscal analysts who have examined his economic plans say his calls to extend the Bush tax cuts while cutting corporate and other taxes would likely increase the deficit significantly.
This tension between steep tax cuts and deficit reduction has been a recurring theme in the evolution of Mr. McCain’s economic thinking.
I can tell you this, when Americans are worried about their own budgets, they could give a hoot about the government's deficit. Also, how the heck does he plan to do this as a war president? War spending has sapped the budget. Balancing is not even plausible.
When it comes to the economy, McCain is a vase of cut flowers.
