By Robert Samuelson
WASHINGTON -- Call it the $12 trillion misunderstanding.
It ranks among the biggest forecasting errors ever. Back in 2001, the Congressional Budget Office projected federal budget surpluses of $5.6 trillion for 2002-2011. Instead we got $6.1 trillion of deficits -- a swing of $11.7 trillion. Naturally, political recriminations followed. Who or what caused the change? President Bush's tax cuts for "the rich"? The Iraq and Afghanistan wars? TheMedicare drug benefit? The financial crisis? President Obama's "stimulus"?
It ranks among the biggest forecasting errors ever. Back in 2001, the Congressional Budget Office projected federal budget surpluses of $5.6 trillion for 2002-2011. Instead we got $6.1 trillion of deficits -- a swing of $11.7 trillion. Naturally, political recriminations followed. Who or what caused the change? President Bush's tax cuts for "the rich"? The Iraq and Afghanistan wars? The
