Bill Bennett: “I begin with a headline that appears in this morning's Washington Post on the front page of the business section. I…”

“I begin with a headline that appears in this morning's Washington Post on the front page of the business section. I believe it belongs on the front page, period. The headline reads: Federal Deficit Likely to Narrow By $100 Billion. Tax Receipts Pare Borrowing. It goes on to describe how the amount of tax receipts coming into the Government are so much higher than those anticipated, that the present expectation is that this year's deficit will be $100 billion less than the amount that we were told when the year began. To me, that does not come as a surprise. Yes, I am a little surprised that the number is as high as it is. But the one thing I have said over and over again on this floor, and will continue to say because it seems nobody understands it, is that all of the numbers we have with respect to our projections around here are always wrong. I can't tell you whether they are wrong on the high side or the low side in advance, but the one thing I can always say with absolute certainty is that they are wrong. Why? Because we are talking about an $11 trillion economy. In an $11 trillion economy, even the slightest percentage change in our estimate produces a big number, in terms of dollars. One hundred billion is not that much money when you talk about $11 trillion. It is 1 percent.”