Re: The p00n thread
That excuse only applies to economic policy, if the government forecasts a surplus and end up with a deficit due to some MASS change in economic condition then that is understandable.
These people are politicians, they mostly have a background in law and economics and they should know what assumptions to make, just because they don't deliberately 'lie' doesn't mean they aren't being dishonest or being silly because they know they are making promises that they cannot keep.
Its not like every time a politician fails to deliver on a promise, its because of changing economic conditions
I don't think all politicians have backgrounds in economics (many have backgrounds in arts and law). Even if they did then the assumptions made will not always be realised.
Also, it's not just economic policies that are dependent on uncertain variables. The success of social policies are also effectively guesswork as well. There is uncertainty in how industry groups, the public, other governments and minority groups will react especially if the policy favours one group of people at the expense of another group. There's also the success of implementing the policy itself in an operational sense which is also an uncertainty.
Also, the majority of government policies are dependent on the state of the economy anyway whether it be directly or indirectly because it has a massive impact on tax revenue. If the economy is slowing and tax revenue falls (eg due to higher unemployment) they may no longer be able to afford policies (whether they be economic or otherwise) that they initially promised and may be forced to cut funding on existing policies which previously had a promise of some sort attached to it.
My point is that many politicians are 'forced' to make these promises because that's what people want to hear. How else would you communicate the policy to the public? No one wants to hear a politician truthfully communicate uncertainty about their policies.
It is virtually impossible to make a series of large scale promises and 100% deliver them successfully. There will always be policy failures often due to factors beyond government control.