Posted on 03/05/2019 1:58:09 PM PST by semimojo
The federal government recorded a budget surplus in January. But so far for this fiscal year starting Oct. 1, the total deficit is 77 percent higher than it was for the same period a year ago.
The Treasury Department said Tuesday the deficit for the first four months of fiscal 2019 totaled $310.3 billion. That's up from $175.7 billion in the same period a year ago -- and that includes the January surplus of $8.7 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
When it keeps going up under Republicans and there is no crash, it becomes really hard to argue to the public that the Democrat program is going to tank things.
Well, Trump had to deal with free spending RINOs in his own party to get his corporate tax cuts. The purpose of those was to get the economy humming again.
I think the Laffer curve applies more to personal tax cuts and those were minimal.
Wait until after April 15 to get a much better view of 2018.
I’m with-holding my “contribution” until about then.
There was a 1% revenue increase the first year of implementation.
I think there will be an even greater increase as the year goes along.
Notice that they do concede that revenues are actually up because of tariffs.
This means as we all know that the spending is the problem, not revenue.
Looks like maybe not all tax cuts increase revenues after all.
...
They don’t but a big part of this deficit is due to the Fed raising interest rates which increases the interest costs on Obama’s debt.
Democrats: Increasing taxes will reduce the deficit.
Republicans (including Trump): Cutting taxes will reduce the deficit.
Yet the deficit continues to grow. Spending continues to outpace revenue. I’m beginning to think that everyone in DC is lying to us. They really don’t care about the deficit at all. Let the grandchildren of us peasants worry about it.
Rate hikes might be a small factor but they don't affect the debt service on the debt issued prior to the rate hike.
Of course, the new debt, including the rollover of the prior debts, will be at the higher rate but I think the Fed's action was too recent to have a big impact on these numbers.
President Trump saves money, then Congress grabs it and spends spends spends. It must be awful to be so power (and money) hungry.
Republicans (including Trump): Cutting taxes will reduce the deficit.
Modern Monetary Theorists: If you have the world's reserve currency deficits don't matter.
One Billion Dollars. Per day.
A billion dollars a day is just the INTEREST due on our 22 Trillion Dollar Debt.
We are so screwed.
Come again?
It would be one thing if the deficit was increasing due to investment in infrastructure or research, it is another thing entirely that the deficit increases because we transfer income from one American to another. But FedGov spent all the money it has taken in “trust” funds, so the only was to pay back those dollars is through higher taxes or through inflation. I don’t think there is a big appetite to feed more money into the one-armed-Washington bandit. It’s interesting to note when the 13th amendment passed in 1913, what at the time cost $500, would cost more than $12,826 today.
> President Trump saves money, then Congress grabs it and spends spends spends. <
I’m a big fan of The Donald. But don’t let him off the hook so easily. Trump has yet to veto any spending bill.
How much is due to interest rate increases?
How much is due to Military spending?
How much is due to lack of border control?
How much is left?
Government tax Revenues are at record highs. So it can be argued the tax cuts helped not hurt.
But spending increases even more.
I would like to see him tell Congress that they pass a balanced budget or he'll veto it. Let the Democrats and RINOs own the shutdown if they don't.
The article is confusing and makes contradictory claims, but there's no question that tax revenues are down if you exclude tariffs.
There are many articles on the subject. Do a search using these terms “fomc rate hikes budget deficit”. Don’t use the quotes.
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