any kind of significant downturn in the economy is going to put the budget back in the red.

Even after the economy is back on its feet and grows -- upon their assumption of the rate of 3.2 percent a year -- even then, we still have a negative bottom line after you back out Social Security and Medicare, as we think he should,

Our country, the United States of America, may be the world's largest economy and the world's only superpower, but we stretch ourselves dangerously thin by taking on commitments like Iraq with only a motley band of allies to share the burden.

It's hard to get a clear picture of exactly where we stand. We've made progress with the training of Iraqi security forces, but it's taken a lot longer to get there than we anticipated.

There were no hearings, there was no testimony,

We can set aside a surplus to save Social Security or Medicare, or we can pass the burden of the baby boomers retirement off on to our children,