I know who the next president will be

Mitt Romney has picked the Republicans’ top numbers guy as his vice president. (AP Photo)

>>Boze: Why Ryan should scare Democrats

Mitt Romney has picked the Republicans’ top numbers guy as his vice president.

“Join me in welcoming the next president of the United States, Paul Ryan,” said Romney introducing his running mate.

Or president, whatever. It doesn’t matter because whoever wins won’t really be in charge. The numbers will be in charge.

And the numbers say that if you’re in the middle class, your taxes are going up. They will go up if Obama and Biden win. They will go up if Romney and Ryan win. And they will go up even if they don’t go up.

For example, Romney would cut tax rates and make up the difference by eliminating tax deductions. But most of those deductions, like the home mortgage deduction, help the middle class. Your payments go up. Obama says tax the rich, but even they don’t have enough.

Paul Ryan is famous for actually tackling the growing Medicare deficit. In fact, he and Obama agree on that. But cut Medicare how? Are we really going to cut doctors’ salaries? Are we going to tell the old folks, ‘Your chemotherapy is a waste of money, we’re not paying for it?’ I bet we end up raising Medicare taxes, too.

But here’s the kicker. Even if taxes aren’t raised one penny, they will raise themselves. The numbers show we are borrowing about 40 percent of what we spend. And while a lot comes from China, most of it comes from the Federal Reserve Bank, which is to say, it’s printed. Which if it goes on too long, causes inflation, which is just an-across-the-board tax on everybody.

So whoever wins in November, come January, we already know who will take the oath of office: President Big Scary Numbers, and Vice President Paymore Tax. Hail to the Chief.

By DAVE ROSS, Ross and Burbank host