Public Enemy #1

Suppose I told you that I had a business idea for you that had profits (written as +) and costs (written as -) that went like this:

• 2010: + 100 billion
• 2011: + 200 billion
• 2012 : + 250 billion
• 2013: + 250 billion
• 2014: + 250 billion
• 2015: + 250 billion
• 2016: + 150 billion
• 2017: + 50 billion
• 2018: - 50 billion
• 2019: - 200 billion
• 2020 --> : - 200 billion or more every year

How would you "score" this business? Personally, I would say that if we went in to that business, it would be time to get out by 2017. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), not because they are stupid (they are, in fact, a bunch of very smart people), but because they have a set of rules given to them by Congress that they must follow, would tell you that this business (or law) actually saves the country lots of money.

How can that be? Look at their rules. Time value of money is not part of the rules. So, one dollar in 2010 is the same as one dollar in 2012 is the same as one dollar in 2019. And, the scoring for a bill ends after 10 years. So (and my intent here is not to be political, but instead to make a point) construction of bills and therefore laws becomes a jury-rigged process. Every major bill that goes to the House Ways and Means Committee seems to save money early on and not start to cost money until close to Year 10. Hmmm? Does that make such a bill a budget-neutral, or even budget-positive bill? I don't think so. But the author of the bill will tell you how it will save the country money while neglecting to tell you that the same bill will saddle future generations with mountains of debt.

Where did the numbers above come from? I made them up. Where could they have come from? They could have come from the Affordable Care Act (PPACA), or Health Care Reform, if you prefer. There is a law where the savings are front-loaded, but once the program starts to cost the country money, it never is projected to stop costing money. Yet, the authors of the law say it saves the country money. And, they use the non-partisan CBO as ammunition to prove it. 

The CBO says PPACA will save us money. And, by their estimates, which I believe to be as valid as any others, it is expected to save us money ... over a 10-year time horizon. But, what happens after 10 years? Hmmm! It costs money every year after Year 10. So, if instead of scoring over 10 years, CBO rules asked them to score over 20 years, then proponents of the law could not say that PPACA saves the country money.

Does the public know this? Generally not. Does Congress know this? I think that some in Congress do, and some probably do not. Now you do.

To my mind, these rules are lunacy. We are in the computer age. If the CBO can do a 10-year projection, it can also do a projection for 25 years, 50 years, 100 years. It's not the CBO's fault, though. They have rules. But, to my mind, those CBO rules, foist upon them by Congress are Public Enemy #1.

What do you think?