Related Link » CBO: Health-care reform bill cuts deficit by $1.3 trillion over 20 years, covers 95%Anyone who has ever used a computer for calculation knows that a computer computes what it is instructed to compute. The instructions come in two forms:
“How they got these numbers, and whether there are important qualifiers, will be easier to say once CBO releases its analysis. But the bottom line is that this is the exact sort of score that Democrats wanted, and is in fact considerably better than some had come to expect they would receive. Coverage is better than the Senate bill, which will reassure liberals, and deficit reduction is better than either bill, which will reassure conservatives.” [emphasis added]
— By Ezra Klein, March 18, 2010 (WaPo)
- the programmed software that specifies the computation algorithms; and
- the user's input.
 h/t Theo |
| Congressional Sausage |
The CBO's accounting practices are presumed to be the proper way in which to project fiscal estimates based on the details of a bill's mark-up. The bill's mark-up is the so-called "input" to the CBO's computation process.
A bill's mark-up by Congress is garbage, which is a family-friendly euphemism for complete and utter bullshit.
This garbage is faithfully processed by the CBO using its prescribed accounting practices. This processing/computation produces what is euphemistically referred to as analysis or "score". It is treated by the wretched politicians in Congress as the holy grail with which to convince their ignorant lap-dog choir of their bill's worthiness.
This charade mimics with incredible fidelity the way in which sausage is made. The product or "output" is precisely analogous to the output produced by any dog who has gorged himself on sausage.
Post #1,161 Garbage In — Garbage Out
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