Regardless where you stand on the immigration bill, the following information as to how the CBO operates is healthy to have in mind any time the CBO releases a projection: 1) The CBO is a calculator. They simply add up the numbers that Congress gives them. The CBO does not vouch for the figures they were given; they simply do the math. So if Congress tells them that a new bill will add an X amount of workers over the next decade, the CBO consolidates other projections of the decade -- such as their expected GDP/Economic growth -- and they produce a bottom line. Hence, the CBO said the immigration bill will save the U.S. $197 billion over the next decade. 2) The CBO is always shortsighted on economic growth. For example, in their 2000-2010 budget projection they didn't foresee the 9/11 attacks; the war on terror and the revelation of corporate corruption. As a result, they predicted trillions of surpluses over the next decade which never materialized. Worse, in early 2008, the CBO...(Read Full Post)