Rich get richer

How do you suppose this is going to affect George Bush's stated goal of halving the federal deficit by 2009?

The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years.

Royalty-Free Oil and Gas New projections, buried in the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government.

Based on the administration figures, the government will give up more than $7 billion in payments between now and 2011. The companies are expected to get the largess, known as royalty relief, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period.

Like I said, the administration has no intention of addressing the deficit, other than using it as an excuse to cut entitlement programs for the needy, and appears still to be operating under the impression that "deficits don't matter."

Of course, what big Dick meant when he said that is that deficits don't matter to electability. He wasn't addressing the impact they have on 99 percent of the population.