As an occasional smoker and firm believer in the 5th Commandment (Catholic), I think I'll push the button for Obama come this November!

Careful there John... keep embracing anti-tobacco and pro-crappy comedy positions there and you'll have to kiss Virginia bye bye.

It amazes me that people on a progressive blog, who embrace environmental causes such as clean air and reversing climate change, can castigate a Republican candidate for giving voice to the public health crisis posed by cigarette smoking.

Shame on you, Lowell.  Are you endorsing tobacco deaths just to score a cheap point on McCain?  I thought that you were above that.

As to you, legacyofmarshall, you are the archtypical nicotine addict.  Self-justifyingly pathetic.  

Of course smoking is a public health crisis, but I don't think that was Senator McCain's point, his point was to joke about killing the Iranian population.

As for my comment - please note that anything I say starting with McCain having "lost my vote" therefore suggesting that he ever had my vote simply must be satirical.

If so, it's as lame as McCain's about killing Iranians by selling them American cigarettes.

By the way, what's with the unprovoked ad hominem attack on legacyofmarshall?  As we've said many times, we really frown upon that stuff on RK.

According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund:

FROM THE WONK ROOM...To Balance McCain's Budget, U.S. Economy Would Have To Grow At Fastest Rate In Over Half A Century...For Five Years In A Row

Yesterday, McCain spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer responded to our analysis showing that McCain could eliminate 10 government agencies and still not balance his budget by 2013. Watch it here.

Her argument? That McCain could balance his budget, which includes a doubling of Bush's tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, through a combination of spending cuts and economic growth.

But some quick calculations show that to balance his budget the economy would have to grow by a blazing 8% a year-which hasn't happened since 1950 - between now and 2013.

That annual growth rate is faster than any the U.S. economy has experienced since 1950, and faster than any economy in the G7 (which includes Germany and Japan) has grown since 1970. And to balance his budget, McCain needs it to happen five years in a row.

The last time the Unites States experienced 5 years of growth that fast was between 1939 and 1944 when growth averaged 12.8% per year.

Put simply, the only way McCain could achieve that kind of growth is to start World War III.

Read methodology and calculations after the jump.

Continuing Bush's tax cuts, as McCain plans to do, would leave a deficit of over $400 billion in 2013. McCain plans on adding an additional $300 billion in tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. Even assuming McCain is able save $50 billion a year with a discretionary spending freeze and earmark reductions (a very generous assumption), McCain would still face a deficit in 2013 of at least $650 billion.

In 2006, McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said that "the federal government collects roughly 18 cents on the national dollar in taxes-close to the postwar average." (This is about right: tax policy center predicts that McCain will collect about 17.8% of GDP in taxes in 2013.)

At this rate, according to our back-of-the-envelope calculations, McCain would need a GDP of $21.7 trillion to have revenues high enough in 2013 to fill his $650 billion hole. That means that between now and 2013, the United States economy would have to grow at 8% every year.

Calculations: CBO predicts a GDP of $18.1 trillion in 2013. To calculate how much more GDP is required for $650 billion in revenue, we find $650/.18=$3,611 or $3.6 trillion. This means McCain needs a GDP of $21.7 trillion in 2013. The last recorded GDP level is 2007's $13.7 trillion. To find needed the annual growth rate, we solve (($21.7/$13.7)^(1/6))-1=.08=8%.

The Center for American Progress Action Fund is the sister advocacy organization of the Center for American Progress. The Action Fund transforms progressive ideas into policy through rapid response communications, legislative action, grassroots organizing and advocacy, and partnerships with other progressive leaders throughout the country and the world. The Action Fund is also the home of the Progress Report.