Posted on 05/04/2005 8:32:19 PM PDT by bitt
After three years of rising federal budget deficits, a surge of April tax receipts brought unexpected good news to fiscal policymakers -- the tide of government red ink appears to be receding.
The Treasury Department this week reported there would be a $54 billion swing from projected deficit to surplus in the April-to-June quarter, after an unanticipated gush of tax payments poured into the Treasury before the April 15 deadline. That prompted private forecasters to lower their deficit projections for the fiscal year that ends in September.
Budget analysts inside and outside the government said the positive turn is likely to be short-lived. Indeed, after a four-year absence, the Treasury Department announced yesterday it is considering reissuing its 30-year Treasury bond to help finance long-term government debt, jolting the bond markets and pushing down the price of existing 30-year securities.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
the economy can't be too bad...
They say this like it's bad news. They should issue 50 year bonds too. Lock in low rates for government borrowing now, before the economy really picks up steam.
Tax cuts. Works every time it's tried.
Oh goody, we're slightly less bankrupt than we thought.
They should have a gush of money. They received a big check from me around the 1st of April.
Don't worry... they'll find one way or another to spend it. Anyone have any unfunded social programs for their constituency laying around?
You almost sounded like a liberal when you said that. :^)
I did my share.
'I did my share.'
you did your share, and maybe 66 other people's shares, too...
maybe we could ask if we could use those families we are supporting thru our taxes as additional 'dependents'?
Weird how 5 years of GOP governance has so cleanly and completely severed its reputation for fiscal responsibility and small government, eh?
I was always for term limits. Maybe if we get 3 or 4 more conservatives on the Supreme Court it will happen.
LOL. That's a great idea, as long as I don't have to lodge them all. I don't like crowds :)
This President won't give us conservatives on the USSC. He's a socialist.
Since the classic definition of a "socialist" is one who favors government ownership of the means of production, and if any thing the case against Bush is that he is too soft of crony capitalism as opposed to government ownership, I think you meant that Bush is a targeted redistributionist, as are about 85% or more of the voters. Redistribution light is a necessary foundation for a civil society. Absent it, the public square would be at once both brutish and short. The libertarian critique is at bottom profoundly empty. So says one who has been there, and thought about these issues.
Me, too. I wonder who I'm supporting this year? It'd be kinda nice if I got a letter and photo from them, just so I know what they're doing with my money...
I did my part. But this strikes me as a blip in a rather dreary deficit picture.
Cut spending.
You know, I have often suggested that it would be much better and more rewarding to say that I have been assigned Mr. and Mrs. Jones and their family in Gary, Indiana to help this year. Or several Jones families.
It would cut out the middlemen of all those Ph.Ds creating stupid social programs, salaries and pensions for themselves. You would see that your money is going to something constructive.
I think you are confusing socialism and communism. In communism, the state actually owns the means of production, and commands the distribution of goods. In socialism, the government controls the production of a nation, rather than outright owning it.
Bush is indeed a socialist. He has greatly increased the scope of government control, and made it his very first priority. He has no legacy of deregulation like Reagan - the government is larger and more powerful relative to the rest of the nation than it ever has been. I think you are trying to convince yourself otherwise with the euphemism "redistributionist", but if you look at the record, it's plainly not true.
Nope, look up the definition of socialism. Bush is in favor of some deregulation (so much of that job has been done previously, as hard as you might find that to believe), but if federal dollars are flowing, there needs to be accountability, such as in education. I tend in some cases to favor golden hand cuff regulation. It constitutes the tie that binds this nation, in a federal system. But then I am a Federalist. We are one nation, and should act as such.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.