The president's fun with numbers

When all else fails – drink. Seems to be the overriding lesson from the president’s upcoming beer summit. A frosty lager makes everything all right. I’m about a 12-pack in over the latest spending numbers. Investor’s Business Daily notes the White House and Congress quadrupled the 2009 budget deficit in the first six months of the year. For Obama supporters who like to point to Bush’s legacy of deficit spending, is this really the tact to take? But not to worry, the president promised $100 million in cuts – on $4 trillion of spending, or 0.0025 percent. Quite the deficit hawk. And here’s where it gets fun. IBD is kind enough to put the numbers in perspective:

o If President Obama were your dietician, you’d have to give up an apple a year to abide by his diet plan.
o If he wanted to cut your gasoline consumption, you’d have to drive just one-third of a mile less each year.
o If he wanted you to waste less water, you’d have to reduce the time you spend in the shower on one day of the year by 30 seconds.