BULLETIN >> U.S. FEDERAL DEFICIT SHRINKS TO $53 BLN IN JULY

Dow Jones Big Charts.MarketWatch.com ^ | 8/10/05 | Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

[Huck]

Well expat, I think I recall asking you to post your favorite chart of federal deficits. Go for it.

[Huck]

Do you disagre with the numbers? Show me yours, if you have any.

[Grampa Dave]

When will we hear the real story from Herr Krugman and Rubin?

[Huck]

And they do look accurate. They even have a little drop in the deficit right where we are now. Did you notice that? No, of course not, you would rather apply the fallacious "guilt by association" argument. Not surprising.

[Dolphan]

Or Federal Debt.

That's a doozy as well.

(I'm not surprised GOP aligned organizations don't make these types of charts available on their websites)

[Mo1]

The July deficit was the lowest for the month since 2002.

[Huck]

Ever heard of Medicare and Social Security? Or Baby Boomers? Bury your head.

[ChicagoHebrew]

The deficit varies significantly from month to month. The government runs big surpluses in March and April (when people pay their taxes), and large deficits in most other months.

[tanknetter]

It's the direction that counts.

Just out of curiosity, given that last month's deficit was $6 billion below CBO projects, upon what projection(s) is your chart based? The most current? Given that it appears to be 18 months old, I'd tend to doubt its accuracy (not that projections should ever be presumed to be "accurate")

[Huck]

It's so funny how the Clinton era surpluses are all explained away, but a slight dip in the Bush deficit is iron clad. These people are so emotionally attached. No ability to be objective.

[Huck]

If you have better numbers, feel free. At least I'm posting numbers. I think it looks close to our current situation.

[Huck]

I doubt it. GW is only promising to cut it in half, and even there, I think he's talking about cutting a projection in half.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

100 billion improvement every year and the budget will be balanced in the future....... yes, we need to get the budget under control and balanced, but then ? after that ? we have a HUGE national debt we need to pay back.

[SlowBoat407]

Gee, just imagine what it would be if we cut pork, waste, fraud, unconstiutional expenditures, subsidies to terrorist nations and groups, and foreigh aid to countries that think we are a blight on the earth.

[LS]

Post the most recent remarkable reduction.

[tanknetter]

The deficit varies significantly from month to month. The government runs big surpluses in March and April (when people pay their taxes), and large deficits in most other months.

Yup. That's why it's fair to look at the same month for prior years as an indicator of how things are progressing. It looks to me like the deficit dropped $17 billion compared to the same time last year. That's nearly a 25% drop.

[LS]

And by the way, there were NOT these size surpluses in 1999-2000, so I suspect this is not in real dollars.

[Huck]

That was the only halfway readable chart I could find googling. If you have a better one, feel free. Point is, clearly, the deficit has been going in the wrong direction for about as long as GW has been in office.

[Dolphan]

But you see, the deficit spending "creates jobs" so it's a good thing.

After all, it was Gov't spending (WWII) that got us out of the Great Depression.

[RightWhale]

Bush is being conservative. He doesn't like to get too far out in front.