John Thune's math fail

[ProSense]

Talking Points Memo: Math Is Hard: John Thune's Plan To Eliminate Deficits In 10 Many, Many Years

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) -- the fifth highest ranking Republican in the Senate -- has a new plan for lowering deficits, and as you might expect from GOP leadership, it involves zero tax hikes. It does however, involve math and, if his appearance on Fox News last night is any indication, Thune finds math rather difficult. There's really no other way to explain his utter failure to remember the law of diminishing returns when he talked about the benefits of his deficit reduction plan.

Appearing on Fox News, Thune and host Greta Van Susteren discussed the bill's call for the creation of a Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with reducing the deficit 10 percent year over year.

"It would be required to find 10% in savings -- 10% of the deficit in savings every budget cycle," Thune said.

"So in 10 years we wouldn't have a deficit?" van Sustern asked.

"Theoretically, yes," Thune replied. "10% Is a floor. Obviously -- you can go beyond that."

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Late update: A reader emails with specifics: "It'd actually take 100 years to reduce the deficit to $26 million -- stipulating a $1 trillion deficit as the baseline."

[zulchzulu]

1. Smack Thune down early and often

Just sayin'.