U.S. TREASURY WEB SITE REVEALS $ HALF-TRILLION DEFICIT

nypost.com ^ | May 14, 2002 | JOHN CRUDELE

[getsoutalive]

May 14, 2002 -- HARDLY anyone noticed but the Federal budget deficit rose to more than a half-trillion dollars last year.

That's not a typo. My typing is just fine.

And that incredible figure comes from no less an authority than U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.

[Glenn]

What's the problem? You're safer now then you were in 2001. You have more money to spend. The economy is great! I know because interest rates are still down. Car insurance is coming down. So is house insurance. Health insurance isn't nearly as expensive as it used to be. Local taxes are way off what they were a couple of years ago. Even the little extras on your phone bill that were a gift from AlGore to the masses have all but disappeared. And how about those roads and the efficiency of government departments like HUD, Education and the INS?

Ingrate.

[getsoutalive]

Yea, that's me. Never happy.

[AmericaUnited]

Hey, a half-a-trillion here and a half-a-trillion there and next thing you know, you're talking real money.

[fhayek]

I think Reagan's first budget wasn't much over $500 billion.

[getsoutalive]

Add this to the $20B+ California deficit and (I can't find the real number) $40 some odd Billion for states in total and we have a real pressure cooker here.

[RightWhale]

Federal debt is about $6.06 trillion and increasing at $1.1 billion per day. We each owe $21,000. Then there is private debt, which is another $6 trillion. We each owe another $21,000.

[Ken H]

Social Security revenues are masking the real size of the deficit. IMO, it is sophistry to add that figure in the reported budget.

Boomers are going to start collecting SS in the next few years and they will vote out of office any politician who does not expand their benefits.

There will be massive numbers of my fellow BBers demanding their "fair" share at the time SS revenues start decreasing.

[eno_]

Don't have kittens just yet. Sell all the FedGov land, and, voila, those debts would be gone. The FedGov has HUGE assets. Really honest accounting would put those assets in a trust for the benefit of the taxpayer and would put real fiduciary responsibilty on, for example, general partners who would be responsible for making those assets work for us.

[DeaconBenjamin]

Once is not enough.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

BTTT!

[Alan Chapman]

Threads like this remind me of why I left the Republican party and became a Libertarian. Republicans will never reduce government.