It's the Calculator Stupid

My Republican friend writes in to tell me that I can't be serious about plugging in Republican proposals in the deficit calculator(s) and not solve the deficit problem. In his world, the calculators are all biased.

Christopher, you almost hit the nail on the head when you said your liberal deficit calculators are "tricky" and don't let you fully apply GOP ideas. There is no button to repeal Obamacare. There is no button to rescind unspent stimulus money. There is no button to keep the Obama's from traveling on the tax payers dime. Joke all you want, until there's real consideration for Republican plans we'll never have true deficit reduction.

True enough I did lament the fact that the pretend budget calculators wouldn't let me abolish the Department of Education, the Federal Reserve and whatnot.  But those aren't real plans.  There's no chance of any of that happening.  The calculators were designed with actual, substantive, on the table policies in mind.  Tea bagger hard-ons are not based in reality.  I know it's difficult for Republicans to understand all that but going five minutes without Rush Limbaugh and Fox News could really help you cope with the reality-based community.

Furthermore, the Affordable Care Act reduces the deficit.  Repealing it would add to the red ink.  There's less than $300 billion left in the Stimulus.  Repeal it and HCR and you're still left with a $1 trillion deficit in the short term.  Total geniuses.