John McCain seems a bit unclear on the concept of a “budget.” Must be nice to be so rich you don’t have to live within one personally, but it might be a little bit rough on the country to have those principles applied to the Federal government.
Lawrence Korb reports on the bogosity — the diplomatic phrase is “unrealistic expectations” — of McCain’s budget math.
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that someone who can’t remember how many houses he owns doesn’t have much concept of what it means to live within a budget. Or that someone who apparently can’t count also can’t add.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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