Can you say "cognitive dissonance"? The same people who cheered the tax cut are now bitching about the deficit.

"It's already time to think beyond this year and next about how to take down long-term deficits that could become disastrous," said Allen Sinai, president of Decision Economics Inc., who has strongly supported the president's tax cuts. "It would be good for the economy for the administration to at least signal they will do something."

The Congressional Budget Office will release new budget forecasts Tuesday that will put next year's red ink near $500 billion. Sinai's own forecast put the figure even higher, as high as $535 billion. Absent any serious change in policy, private sector economists say deficits will remain in that range through the decade, then escalate sharply with the retirement of the baby-boom generation.

"I see absolutely nothing that's going to bring the deficit back to balance in the foreseeable future," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's.

Bush's response Friday was that Wall Street and others should put such concerns on hold until after the economic recovery begins to produce jobs.

"Those who are worried about the deficit must first worry, I hope would worry first, about people being able to find work, like in Washington state," Bush said to reporters near Seattle. "I am more concerned about somebody finding a job than I am about numbers on paper."

| |