Transparent Shell Games

The Obama administration has declared there will be no more off-budget spending. They will now account for it all in the official numbers.

"All told we are showing $2.7 trillion in costs in this budget that were excluded from previous budgets and I think that is a mark of the honesty and responsibility contained in this document," he said. (Editing by Jackie Frank)

I applaud the Administration's transparency, but this is a shell game. Revealing the “True deficit” is a convenient way to mask your gross spending increases (32%) as well as set a high benchmark from which to base future cuts upon.

No politician does anything for purely altruistic reasons. If this administration were really serious about true government accountability, it would insist the federal government follow the same accounting rules it foists upon those perched just below the pinnacle of Mount Olympus.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSWAT01105820090226
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4IDVnpqVC0M&refer=home