This is why I started putting together a spreadsheet.

In FY2005, tax receipts were $2.11 trillion and the deficit was $328.7 billion.

If you assume the following:

1. Spending stays flat;
2. Tax receipts grow at 3 percent a year;
3. Interest on the deficit is 4.5 percent a year (the current 10-year Treasury rate)

Then you start running budget surpluses in 2010. By 2020 you're running a $900 billion *surplus* each year, enough to pay off the national debt in about a decade.

That, of course, requires spending to stay flat for 15+ years, and for those surpluses not to be turned into tax cuts. That just isn't going to happen. But it wouldn't take centuries.

Now, if you factor in spending growth, then you may well be looking at centuries. Even if spending grows just 2 percent a year, you don't start running surpluses until 2020. If spending grows 2.5 percent a year, you don't start running surpluses until 2035. If spending grows 3 percent a year, you never reach surplus status.

Anyway, i'll finish the spreadsheet and post it in its own thread so we can talk about what it means. Basically, I think it shows that debt-fueled stimulus is a pretty stupid idea.

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Man up.