Budgeting is complex, best studied with anthro-pological rather than economic tools. Budgeting differs across place and time, making context more important to discuss than generalizations to the universe. Budgeting is not uniform but, like bird watch-ing, is subject to more complex description as one learns more about the subject being studied. All entitlements are not the same either, some gain strength, others weaken. Budget numbers are spongy, not concrete.
Ranges are more appropriate than single estimates.
It is actually more precise to speak of future tax break costs as in the range of 450 to 500 billion dollars than to suggest a discrete amount. Policy preference, disguised as issue framing, leads to false dichotomies. Capital and operating expenditures are not clean categories, anchoring a continuum with a nice fuzzy range. Budgeting is conflictual. It s a multisided conflict with the action taking place in the middle rather than at the extremes.