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Economy | In the aftermath of the largest spending bill in U.S. history, even experts are struggling to understand the details: "It's chaos" | Jamie Dean

Illustration by Krieg Barrie

Visit President Barack Obama's still-functioning campaign website, and you'll find a list of pre-election promises. A prominent one: "Obama and Biden will stop funding wasteful, obsolete government programs that make no financial sense." Another: "Obama and Biden believe that a critical step in restoring fiscal discipline is enforcing pay-as-you-go budgeting rules."

But as Congress headed into negotiations over a nearly $800 billion economic stimulus bill, pay-as-you-go notions evaporated. Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation put it simply: "Congress does not have a vault of money to pump into the economy." Instead, Congress will borrow the funds, adding to an already $1.2 trillion deficit projected for this fiscal year.