Bush, Kerry must explain how they're going to pay

If the organizers of the presidential debates are looking for a backdrop for the stage that President Bush and his Democratic challenger, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, will share, we suggest a large graphic of the following information:
UFederal deficit this year: $422 billion.
UIncrease in the nation's debt over the next 10 years: $2.3 trillion.
UMonthly cost of the war in Iraq: $4 billion.
No debate on such critical domestic issues as job-creation, public education, health care, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid can be credibly held without Bush and Kerry referring to those and other economic indicators.
As the Washington Post noted recently, the agenda the president laid out at the Republican National Convention carries a price of more than $3 trillion. That figure came from the administration's own analysis.
On the other hand, Kerry's agenda, which includes a rollback on the tax cuts given to individuals earning more than $200,000 a year, will cost $2 trillion, the Bush campaign has said. The challenger has rejected that figure as being an exaggeration, but he has yet to provide a cost-analysis for his proposals.
Americans are used to politicians promising the world and then not delivering. They take what candidates have to say with a large dose of skepticism. But in an election as important as this year's presidential contest, voters have a right to demand an answer to this question: How are you going to pay for all the things you've promised?
Tax cut
President Bush's tax cut, which is set to expire in about six years, but which he wants to make permanent, would cut government revenue by $1 trillion over 10 years. His proposal to allow younger workers to invest part of their payroll taxes in stocks and bonds could cost the government $2 trillion over the coming decade, the Post reports.
A trillion here, a trillion there, and soon we're talking real money.
On the campaign trail, Kerry has pledged to cut the deficit in half in four years, provide health care coverage to the 42 million Americans who are not now covered, and give tax breaks to corporations that create high-paying jobs, such as in the manufacturing sector, in the United States instead of overseas. The senator must explain how he intends to do all that and more with a federal budget that is gushing red ink.
Thus far, Bush and Kerry have been able to avoid an in-depth discussion of their economic plans because the stump speeches they're delivering are designed to provide the media, especially television, with sound bites. And even when reporters do have access, the discussion has centered on the war in Iraq and Kerry's service in Vietnam and Bush's stint in the National Guard during that period.
That is why the debates are so important and why both candidates need to be reminded of the economic realities facing the nation as they out-promise each other in attempt to win over the small number of undecided voters who will make the difference in this year's election.