They say Mr. Bush's claim to reach the goal of balancing the budget by 2012 rested on what they see as shaky assumptions.

Always a shaky assumption.

He also identified another $400 million in shaky assumptions.

He said the state's projections include many shaky assumptions, including sales of assets that have yet to be identified and savings that are likely to fall short.

That is still a shaky assumption.

For months, fiscal watchdogs have warned that this year's budget was built on shaky assumptions.

Prof Arthur Midwinter, of Strathclyde University, said the financial analysis underpinning the proposed reforms was based on shaky assumptions and errors of classification.

And there is a hypothetical document built on shaky assumptions that is being sliced thinner and thinner by using circular reasoning.

Dayton criticised Plimer's "shaky assumptions" and "misinformation", describing his assertion that the IPCC's scientists "whip up scary agenda-driven scenarios" as "fanciful".

Many of the experts had attacked Mr. Giuliani's earlier budgets, contending that they rested on shaky assumptions about future revenues and were balanced with questionable fiscal maneuvers.