"Deficit Neutral" Is Not the Same Thing As "Free"

And that's not a misunderstanding our current administration and Congress is going to shine a light on. In fact, it is arguable that this is a misunderstanding they are actively fostering.

What exactly does "deficit neutral" mean anyway? It simply means that the item in question does not result in the government spending _NET_ more than they take in. It completely ignores the fact of how much more cost the taxpayers must shoulder. This means that one way or another, for a "deficit neutral" new program, we are paying at least as much more to the government as they are increasing their spending to pay for this new program. You could write a bill that increases spending by $10 billion but raises taxes by $20 billion and then you could claim that the bill _reduces_ the deficit by $10 billion. And you would be right. It would; however, add $20 billion in new taxes that we taxpayers have to pay for. This definitely does not mean that taxpayers are saving $10 billion. It means, in this case, that taxpayers are paying $20 billion more than they were before.

So President Obama, et. al., are keen to point out that the new health care bill will "not add one dime to the deficit." Gee, Mr. President, thank you for being so "responsible." What they gloss over is the fact that it is not _costing_ us "not one dime" but in fact we will be on the hook for shelling out nearly $1 trillion more to the government than we are already doing today. We will be paying almost $1 trillion more to the government, one way or another, after this bill is passed than before. While deficit neutral is very important, we must not let that cause us to lose sight of the fact that that $0 in deficit spending is costing us $1 trillion dollars. Advocates of this health care bill are working hard to play up the "deficit neutral" aspect in order to hoodwink people into thinking they are getting something for free, while playing down the fact that this is in fact creating $1 trillion in new spending that is paid for by money coming from somewhere. And that somewhere is ultimately us. If program with "not one dime in deficits" is "free," why is it costing us almost $1 trillion more?

Proponents of the health care bill could tack on yet another $1 trillion in new taxes on top of the $1 trillion it will end up costing us and proudly proclaim that this bill is _reducing_ the deficit by $1 trillion. Wow, what a deal that would be! _Free_ health care AND reducing the deficit by $1 trillion to boot! Never mind the fact that such "free" health care and deficit reduction would end up COSTING us $2 trillion. Beware of "tax and spend" politicians proclaiming "responsibility" with "deficit neutrality" and car salesman proclaiming low monthly payments. If "deficit neutrality" is the only metric that matters, then how come we always end up paying more taxes to get it?