Trillion-dollar Barack II

I underestimated the president's ambition: the projected deficit for the current fiscal year is now $1.6 trillion, meaning that he will easily break $5 trillion in his first term. That equals the cumulative debt of all American presidents from George Washington to Bill Clinton. What it took 42 presidents to accomplish, Mr Obama will have done in just four years. (In its admirable manner, the New York Times today manages to give us this information in a story emphasizing the president's steps to reduce the deficit.)

A trillion dollars, recall, is what federal income taxes raised in 2006. Write five checks equal to what you owed in 2006, and you will be square--but only until 2012. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford