Do the math: US deficit $$ just don't add up

NY Post ^ | April 5, 2011 | John Crudele

[Scanian]

Let me start today with some numbers so I can immediately put you to sleep.

In fiscal year 2009, Washington said the country had a deficit of $1.4 trillion. In fiscal year 2010, which ended last September, Washington was pleased to announce that the deficit was only $1.3 trillion.

I don't know about you but I do not find either of those numbers comforting, especially when the total debt being carried by the US is now a stunning $13.5 trillion. Remember the good ol' days -- like in the early 2000s -- when annual deficits that skyrocketed to, say, $200 billion or $250 billion were found to be appalling?

Trillions! We are now talking trillions!

Remember when we could go to war just for the fun of it and not have to worry about how we were going to pay for the bombs? (That's sarcasm, folks, don't send me nasty letters.)

Today's deficit numbers are absolutely, totally, completely insane. And they are also inaccurate.

That's my theme for today.

Even as Congress this week nips and tucks gently at the nation's spending to come up with a billion here and a billion there in cuts so the government won't be shut down, the deficit is far more out of control than you are being told.

Here are the exact deficit numbers, which you can get from: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

And so you don't get the wrong impression, this is a Web site put together by the US Treasury and not conservative fiscal reformers who think the economy should be flogged with cutbacks.

Washington is telling you that the deficit was just $1.3 trillion for the year ended September. Well, grab this table, plug in the starting date of Sept.30, 2009, and the ending date of Oct.1, 2010, and here's what you get

[fhayek]

Two things, click here to get an idea of what a trillion is:http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

Second, although the national debt is officially listed at about $14 trillion, click here http://www.usdebtclock.org/ to see various manifestations of our national debt. Go to the bottom where it lists unfunded mandates (Social Security, Medicare and the Prescription Drug Plan). This lists obligations that we are on the hook for, but have not yet been funded. It now stands at (take a shot of Bourbon) $113.2 trillion. Okay, you can back to whatever you were doing. Sorry.

[harpu]

"Trillions! We are now talking trillions!"

Using time to example the magnitude of the how much a trillion is...remember this; if ONE DOLLAR equaled ONE SECOND, a trillion dollars would equal 32,000 years in time.

[tired&retired]

9/30/2010 13,561,623,030,891.79

10/1/2009 11,920,519,164,319.42

Difference 1,641,103,866,572.37

[4rcane]

Should Washington be considering massive budget cuts? Probably not, because the economy is still very fragile and could very easily head back into a recession. This is what pass off as conventional wisdom amongst the establishment republicans, that a massive budget cut is bad for the economy. They don't seem to realize for every dollar they borrow, thats one less dollar for the economy to grow

[Nicojones]

I don’t understand why more people can’t see through the Dem BS on this issue. Maybe we just need to just show them a few pictures. Here’s one that I think sums everything up nicely:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/assets_c/2011/04/RAMclrfnl-040511-pie.jpg.cms1.php

[cranked]

Oh to the contrary, those numbers add up.....and have been adding up quicker in just over two years of the AnnointedIdiot’s reign than during the whole 8 years of the Bush administration....... =.=

[Thom Pain]

So we are running an annual deficit of $1.5 - $1.7 Trillion. GOP plans to cut “proposed spending” (vs actual spending) by $4 Trillion over 10 years. Therefore, the GOP plan will GROW the DEBT from $14+ Trillion (Current Interest of $676 Billion per year) to > $25 TRILLION by 2022. Interest (at today’s artificially low rates) will then be $1.207 Trillion per year. And they want us to think this is deep surgery?! Don’t people understand that when the collapse of this Ponzi scheme comes and our economy tanks (in addition to the catastrophic riots) there will be massive joblessness, NO $ for Social Security; NO $ for Medicare, NO $ for Medicaid, empty store shelves, NO $ for infrastructure maintenance, precious little $ for Defense, NO $ for Veterans benefits, NO $ for Fed, State & Local pensions, NO $ for education, and we’ll be lucky if we aren’t speaking Chinese.

[Hoodat]

Remember the good ol' days -- like in the early 2000s -- when annual deficits that skyrocketed to, say, $200 billion or $250 billion were found to be appalling?

But that's different. We had a Republican President back then.

[Hoodat]

They don't seem to realize for every dollar they borrow, that's one less dollar for the economy to grow

DING DING DING !!! WE HAVE A WINNER !!!

[cranked]

I have long been saying that the sooner that this nation goes defualt/bankrupt, the better off we will all be. Anyone who believed that the Repubs would listen to the Tea Party and the results of the November elections was/is smoking crack. =.=

[USS Alaska]

The government can't shut down -- not if people who rely on benefits from Washington want to keep eating and going to the doctor, and if we want to continue fighting three simultaneous wars.

After all the BS, here is what the author really believes, gummint good, shutting gummint down, bad.

I receive my monthly pittance from my gummint social security "lockbox" and if the gummint shuts down, I can go longer than any ball-less politician in DC.

[sickoflibs]

I also heard that 3 trillion of that 13 trillion debt is ‘owed’ to the Socal Security so the real debt is 10 trillion and the other 3 is IOUs to itself.

[RadiationRomeo]

Default is the plan. The arguements between the Repubs and Demons is just a choreographed show to keep everyone’s attention while the plan is executed.

I loved the pie graphic from earlier in the thread. It clearly shows that both spending cuts are essentially ZERO. The cuts are nothing. The partisan bickering is about NOTHING. It won’t be fixed. It can’t be fixed. It’s not meant to be fixed.

[Thom Pain]

“Sooner the better” <- I absolutely agree. The more we/they kick the can down the road, the greater the inevitable crash and the more people will be hurt. Do we really want the likes of Pelosi, Boehner, Obama, Gorelick, Frank, etc. managing our financial & security affairs? Seriesly?

[tired&retired]

let’s see

Total estimated revenue $ 2,567.2 Billion

Less Social Security Taxes $ 935.1 Billion
(Not considering SS deficit)

Remainder $ 1,632.1 Billion

If interest rates hit 10%, on $14,251,174,516,308.48 debt the interest will be $1,425,511,745,163.

$1,632.1 B less $ 1,425.5 B leaves $ 206.6 B to run the entire country...

That assumes interest rates stop at 10%....

WE ARE HISTORY!

Anyone remember the Figgy J-Chart in the early 1990’s ???

[Incorrigible]

Bump

[cdpap]

And the fed’s balance sheet is somewhere aroung 9 trillion now so nationalize the federal reserve and presto... most of the debt is erased.