‘Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics’

Posted on Thu 01/05/2012 by PA Pundits - International

By Frank Hill

Mark Twain - Benjamin Disraeli

Mark Twain gets attributed this great quote although he tried to say he got it from Benjamin Disraeli, the great British Prime Minister and statesman of the middle 19th century.

But no one can find that quote for sure in any of Disraeli’s writings so, so much for attribution and chalk up another one for literacy license.

Heading into a new year is always a good time to reset your attitudes and perspectives on life so we thought we would try to reset our brain and yours on the harsh budget realities that now face us in America.

We acknowledge that much of what we have published here has not been ‘great’ news’. There has not been a lot of it, we grant you on that score over these past 2.9 years and counting.

We have always tried to provide you with the hardcore, base, raw data and information you need to know about directly from the readily-available-but-never-read-or-published-without-distortion from resources such as the CBO or OMB or any one of the hundreds of other budget related blogs or archives we have brought to your attention over this time.

We hope it has been helpful and informative and at times, perhaps even a bit interesting and amusing.

We are actually more optimistic now than at any time since 2007 for many reasons, most of which is the upsurge in the number of good people we know who are running for public office or planning to do so in a very short time. That is the only way our democratically-elected republic is going to ‘cleanse’ itself: by replacing virtually every single incumbent now in public office across this great land with men and women of higher intelligence, experience and reasoning capacity.

You know, like the Founders Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Washington, Franklin and the others who sacrificed so much to give us a chance to live in the greatest and most free nation ever.

So here’s some more information to throw into your brain this morning and let ferment some, just to get your mind around the immense scope of not only our federal government’s size but the dynamism of the American economy that when unleashed, can help solve a lot of ills that currently infect us:

Take a look at this startling CBO projection as of FY 2005, as in January, 2005 when they do these types of things in Washington. (You may have to click directly on the chart below to get a more easily-readable, clear image to study to your heart’s content)

TonyfromOz adds…..

Compare the projected figures shown in yellow with what the actual figures are, and just like me, all you can say is, “Wow.” Just how wrong could they be?

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Frank Hill ran for Congress at the age of 28 and served as chief of staff for former Congressman Alex McMillan (NC-9) and Senator Elizabeth Dole (NC). He was a budget associate on the House Budget Committee for 4 years and worked on the 1994 Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform. He now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina where he does some consulting and lots of worrying about federal spending issues.

Read more excellent articles from Family Security Matters . http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/