US budget deficit increases 21%, on track for biggest gap in six years

Agree. Just like not all conservatives are the same. However, it was a bit strange to be arguing for cutting military costs and then in the next thread to be criticized for wanting to spend too much.

 

And "shut down the government"?

 

1) As stated previously "budget impaired". The 2009 fiscal year starts in October 2008 and ends at the end of September 2009. We do not fund the Gov't on a month by month basis. The money has already been allocated by the time the President Steps into the WH.

From a Conservative/Uber Libertarian Fiscal Conservative website. https://www.cato.org/blog/dont-blame-obama-bushs-2009-deficit

Bush tabled the 2009 Budget in Feb 2008. It was for 3.1 Trillion on estimated 2.7 Trillion in revenue = 400 Billion dollar deficit. "already baked into the cake prior to Obama setting foot in office".

Due to the 2008 Crash, revenue dropped from 2.7 to 2.1 Trillion - 600 Billion Obama did not cause the 2008 crash

The other 400 Billion was due to stimulus spending 250 Billion for TARP (enacted under Bush) and 150 Billion under Obama. You can blame Obama for the 150 Billion but this was bipartisan and due to the crash.

Deficit for 2009 = 1.4 Trillion. Debt at the end of the 2009 fiscal year was roughly 12 Trillion. Now 8 Trillion in deficit spending is nothing to be proud of .. but, Obama did not double the debt.

2) Constant Dollars matter - comparing 8 Trillion in 2009-2017 dollars directly to 1980-2009 dollars is flawed.

3) Reagan's first fiscal year started in 1982, the debt was 1 Trillion. By the time he was done the debt was 2.87 Trillion.

Using your comparison metric ... Obama increased the debt 11.8-20.2 /11.8= 71%

Reagan (aka princess with a credit card) increased the debt 2.87- 1.00/1.00 = 187%

But this is only half of the ugly story of Reagan's fiscal irresponsibility - Reagan did this when the economy was stable-good when revenues were increasing.
Obama started with a 600 Billion dollar decrease in revenue and revenue did not recover to 2.7 Trillion until the end of his first term and he started with a 1.4 Trillion dollar deficit and decreased it to roughly 500 Billion with a slight rise to 666 in 2017.

Reagan started with a 79 Billion dollar deficit and increased it massively running amounts double to triple that number every year.

Any fool can increase the deficit - decreasing the deficit however is much more difficult.

Sorry but, you are the one who has been duped by "fake news".

 

The advise is as sound today as it was 5000 years ago. You must not have read the part of what it costs the home country to pay in tax for their army in the field. Better go back and read the book again, and again, and again!

 

Whats wrong with shutting the government down? No wait, I will start a new thread for this.

 

Go next door to your neighbor and just move in and pay no rent and see how well you are received. It will cost you a lot more than a little tax.

 

You are calling the Trump white house's own numbers crap. Just wow.

 

What, be an illegal alien in America. I wish the public WOULD react in such a manner against these alien scum.

 

Once upon a time there was a "somewhat" bi-partisan (mostly Republican) attempt to pass a balanced budget amendment, and it almost passed. The year was 1995, and the bill passed by the needed 2/3 majority in the House, but it failed by just one vote in the Senate. We came that close to avoiding the financial collapse we are headed for now.

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-03-03/news/mn-38285_1_balanced-budget-amendment

 

The kind of "shut downs" of nonessential services should have been permanent.

 

Balanced Budget Amendment = Automatic Tax Hikes

 

All of this is nonsense.

The social safety programs that grew because of the economic collapse were not creations of the Obama Administration. Nor was there significant borrowing to "give a sense of recovery"

There were hundreds of thousands of shovel ready jobs. It can safely be argued that the Stimulus bill rescued the highway/heavy construction industry.

In any event, after the auto bailout, cash for clunkers and stimulus, the economy bottomed and started to slowly recover, culminating in the strong economy we have today.

We also have a much healthier banking sector, thanks to Dodd Frank and stress tests. Of course, Wall Steet wants to go back into the casino mode, and Trump and Mnuchin are doing everything they can to make that happen. As if anyone outside Wall Street ever learns from experience.

"Trump on the other hand, rather than spending, reduced the tax liabilities of the private sector to stimulate growth. It worked. Our economy took off, and that isn't a coincidence. "

Every word of this is completely false.

Trump has, with a tax and a budget bill blown up Federal debt, and is projected to run the largest deficit in US history. And do so when there is no economic emergeny or need to borrow at all.

He and his Wall Street friends did significantly reduce business tax liability. He did this by dropping the corporate tax rate while retaining all the lucrative loopholes taht made a joke out of the cynical right wing line about high corporate taxation. He even broke his promise to repeal the carried interest deduction, much to the relief of Mnuchin's friends.

Of course, all of this borrowed money will have to be paid back. And since the pattern of shifting tax liability away from business and investors, and to wage earners is core to the Trump tax plan, you will eventually get the bill. And it will be a big one. It will almost certainly hit the US when it can least afford it.

Smart people accumulate wealth in good times. Trump squanders it.

Finally, the graphs of economic growth show that the economy is only at a high point of a running trend that has gone on for seven years straight. The idea that the economy "took off" is not supported by any data at all.

Indeed, the recent spike in quarterly growth is an anomoly that also occured in 2014.

Only this time, the spike was caused by a surge of imports anticipating Trump's counter productive tarriffs. Now that the tarriffs are in place, our export partners are looking elsewhere as US government policy has priced US goods out of the world market.

 

Yes, the idea of a balanced budget amendment was once one of those hobby horses that the Republcians would trot out in bad times to show their fiscal responsibility.

It never comes up when they are in power.

In my adult lifetime, Republcians have sextupled the national debt. Now Trump is trying to double it again, and may well succeed. I don't know how we're going to make the payments on $2 trillion deficits, but Trump will be gone by the time the tab comes due.

 

That's all BS so I didn't bother quoting it, but the video specifically shows "shovel ready jobs, weren't shovel ready" because of the economic uncertainty after the Obamacare passage. Just look at their lax attitude and laughter. They aren't taking it seriously.

Steve

 

True or False

1. During Obama’s presidency, the debt increased by $9.3 trillion.

True

2. During Obama’s presidency, the Federal Reserve increased the debt by $2.3 trillion.

True

Thus, $9.3 trillion minus $2.3 trillion : $7 trillion

Question: Did Obama increased the debt by $9.3 trillion?

Answer: Nope

Question: Did Congress increased the debt by $9.3 trillion?

Answer: Nope

In other words, those who keep blaming Obama and/or Congress for increasing the debt by $9.3 trillion are below average intelligent people.

 

YOU are the one showing ignorance of the facts.

When the federal government spends more than it gets in tax revenues, that creates a deficit for that year. These deficits are then converted to the debt via selling U.S. bonds and notes to the public from the Federal Reserve. The Fed and government work together.

Steve

 

Not that I ever expect it to happen, but I think a balanced budget could be accomplished over a 10 year period by normalizing the tax-code, containing the entitlement expansion; and fostering a growing economy. The 1995 attempt had a 7-year phase in period.

 

There is no credible plan to contain the expansion of entitlements.

 

Once again, during Obama’s presidency, the Federal Reserve increased the debt by $2.3 trillion.

ARE WE CLEAR?

 

They only increased the amount of US debt the federal reserve was holding, not the whole US debt.