He vowed to cut the $1.3 trillion deficit in half by the end of his first term in office, in 2013, and to end the "casual dishonesty" of budgets applied by the previous administration. He picked on George Bush's technique of budgeting zero dollars for the Iraq war, when it is costing the country $90billion a year. Mr Obama said: "We cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, to the next administration or next generation."