Posted on 10/14/2005 12:54:17 PM PDT by SierraWasp
Yeah - that's great news! /sarc
They only get to that number by conveniently borrowing the off-budget surpluses of approx $176 billion and not reporting a cent of it. Count that in and the deficit dropped only about $60 billion, all the way down to $500 billion or so. And that's not even accounting for the future spending of promises made now, such as medicare prescription drug benefits, which we should be saving for now to pay for later rather than forcing our children to pay for that benefit in 30 years.
Anyway, if you just count the raiding of off-budget surpluses, the deficit isn't projected to drop below $480 billion anytime in the next 10 years if W gets his way. If you let tax cuts expire, the projection is a $183 billion deficit in 2015.
Thats still horrendously bad, folks. Tax reductions ***ONLY*** work with equivalent cuts in spending, tax hikes elsewhere, or when they mask a general simplification of the tax code.... They don't work when you increase spending faster than LBJ at the same time.
spending related to Hurricane Katrina [and the idiotic refusal of Republican leaders to cut even a dime of pork to pay for it] is likely to drive up red ink</p>
Money borrowed from CHINA?
Its Bush's fault!!!
It's like conservatives are under a spell. They just can't see this.
$2 trillion. When the Fed budget went over $1 million many were alarmed. What is Fed debt now? We might have to annex China or whatever region is still in the black, if there is one on earth, so we have some help paying this off.
You are severely misinformed.
Since 2000, the percentage of U.S. public debt owed to foreigners has doubled. As of July, foreigners held just over $2 trillion, or 44 percent, of federal public debt outstanding. Japan alone now holds more than $680 billion; China, $242 billion; United Kingdom, $160 billion; and Caribbean Banking Centers, $103 billion (U.S. Department of the Treasury).
Source: America’s Foreign Owners
There is plenty of pork being flying out of D.C. - and yes, some of that is going into wasteful contracts to Iraq and NO - Iraqis rebuilt Iraq after the first Gulf War, there should be 100% employment of Iraqis now, not contractors getting paid $300K/yr to do the kind of things soldiers did for a small fraction of that pay. Unemployment there only feeds the insurgency.
If we can't get it together under complete Repub rule to get the budget under control and to cut the social welfare state (and yes, I'll include some corporations feasting at the public trough in this) then when is the budget EVER going to get balanced?
Yep, see #47.
Sounds like we need more tax cuts for the "rich"!
Oh. China owns treasury bonds. Apples/organes.
And all this with a war going on, record high energy prices for the last YEAR.
Sheesh, amazes me the bitchin' going on.
Weeee! Here we go again! How to make a sow's ear out of a silk, er, well, polyester purse!
Before you start, I agree that it's still too damn high!
If it really is declining. If, as Rumsfeld has stated, the past year's $85B for Iraq and Afghanistan is "off-budget", and if the latest $50B is also off budget, my Catholic high school math tells me it's only declining in the "on paper" sense.
Additionally, since the 80's we've been running up surpluses on S.S. taxes (hitting the working and middle classes hardest) which both parties have used to hide the real extent of the deficits, or exaggerate the surpluses. And we are approaching 8 *trillion* in debt...
This is not something to celebrate.
Tax cuts increase tax revenues. The clueless Democrats will never figure that out.
Ummm, that's just 2005's deficit, to be added to the existing deficit. In other words, we're sinking a little slower.
Well, the whining socialist aside, when you have tragic events such as massive hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, etc. raking havoc cannot be predicted and the government will have to respond in kind with money, services, etc. So, those things you cannot plan for or predict. Hell, my weather man has changed our weekend forecast four times since yesterday morning, so how the hell can they predict these huge storms?
Did you get lost on your way to Democrat Underground? This is the wrong place to be complaining about tax cuts... Trolling today?
Tax cuts are fabulous but it's long past time for this president to put his words into action and cut spending.
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