McCain budget numbers don't add up, experts say

By Andy Sullivan - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John McCain's reputation for "straight talk" has helped him clinch the Republican presidential nomination but budget experts say his numbers do not add up.

McCain's promises to reduce wasteful spending if elected president in November would not begin to cover the costs of his proposed tax cuts, analysts say.

He also has not yet explained how he would rein in the health-care and retirement costs expected to swamp the federal budget as some 77 million people retire from the U.S. work force in the coming decades.

On top of that, a President McCain would inherit a $400 billion budget deficit, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that cost nearly $200 billion per year and a similar bill for interest payments on the $10 trillion national debt.

Many experts said McCain's proposals would make the fiscal picture worse.

"This is one of the most fiscally irresponsible plans we've seen by a presidential candidate in a long time," said Robert Greenstein, executive director of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Vague, expensive promises are not unusual on the campaign trail and the proposals put forward by Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton also would likely lead to increased deficits, analysts said.

"I don't think anybody's numbers add up when they run for president," said Jared Bernstein of the liberal Economic Policy Institute. "I do fear that (McCain's) don't add up the most."