Commentary

How much will the next presidency cost us?

Those voting in the primaries will be interested in this tidbit of analysis put together by the National Taxpayers Union. Analysts at NTU have looked at all the programs and tallied up the cost to taxpayers. Who’s the best? Ron Paul–his proposals would reduce federal spending by $150.1 billion. No one else comes close. Rudy Guiliani, who dropped out of the race, would have reduced spending by $1.4 billion. Everyone else–that’s everyone else–will be boosting spending. The biggest spender, believe it or not, is not Hillary Clinton–It’s Barack Obama. Apparently, his brand of change inside the beltway will cost us all an additional $287 billion. Mrs. Establishment (Clinton) would boost spending by just $218.2 billion. At least the remaining Republicans don’t break the $100 billion increase mark, and John McCain’s proposals add up to $6.9 billion.