Posted on 07/29/2002 2:09:20 PM PDT by RCW2001
Monday, July 29, 2002
©2002 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/07/29/financial1647EDT0254.DTL
(07-29) 13:47 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
The government, reacting to a worsening financial picture, said Monday that it plans to tap $76 billion from the credit markets this quarter to compensate for lower income-tax payments and increased spending.
The Treasury Department's new borrowing estimate for the July-September quarter is bigger than the $55 billion borrowing estimate it made in April. The $76 billion would represent the most borrowing to take place in the third quarter since $103.5 billion in 1991.
In the second quarter, Treasury tapped $15 billion from the credit markets, much more than the $1 billion estimated in April. The $15 billion marked the most borrowing by the government in the second quarter since $25 billion in 1995. The increase in borrowing was primarily the result of lower tax receipts.
The Bush administration expects the government will run a $165 billion deficit in the 2002 budget year, ending Sept. 30. That would be the first red ink in four years, and $59 billion worse than the administration estimated in February.
The administration has blamed the return of deficits on last year's recession and the costs of waging war in Afghanistan and battling terrorism at home. Democrats say it was caused by the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut that Bush pushed through Congress in the spring.
For the first nine months of the budget year, the government is running a deficit of $118 billion, a reversal from the sizable surplus recorded for the same period a year earlier.
Revenues from individual income-tax payments so far this budget year totals $643.3 billion, a 19.6 percent drop from the same period last year. Revenues from corporate tax payments are down 15.9 percent to $115.9 billion.
©2002 Associated Press
So amortized over 30 years thats about $800 per year per person. That's $66 per month or about $33 per paycheck. If we were serious about paying off the debt it could be done easily. The problem is that nobody is serious.
is it all an illusion?
TRADE DEFICIT: Formally termed a balance of trade deficit, a condition in which a nation's imports are greater than exports. In other words, a country is buying more stuff for foreigners than foreigners are buying from domestic producers. A trade deficit is usually thought to be bad for a country. For this reason, some countries seek to reduce their trade deficit by--
- establishing trade barriers on imports,
- reducing the exchange rate (termed devaluation) such that exports are less expensive and imports more expensive, or
- invading foreign countries with sizable armies.
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Wealth is created only by engaging in value-added activities. By the same token, Service sector activities do not create wealth, they merely transfer, redistribute and eventually dissipate wealth as consumption. Thus, as value-added activities move offshore and the U.S. labor force shifts to the Service Sector, wealth is dissipated, not created. And the U.S. standard of living declines as a result.WEALTH: The net ownership of material possessions and productive resources. In other words, the difference between physical and financial assets that you own and the liabilities that you owe. Wealth includes all of the tangible consumer stuff that you possess, like cars, houses, clothes, jewelry, etc.; any financial assets, like stocks, bonds, bank accounts, that you lay claim to; and your ownership of resources, including labor, capital, and natural resources. Of course, you must deduct any debts you owe.
VALUE ADDED: The increase in the value of a good at each stage of the production process. The value that's being increased is specifically the ability of a good to satisfy wants and needs either directly as a consumption good or indirectly as a capital good. A good that provides greater satisfaction has greater value. In essence, the whole purpose of production is to transform raw materials and natural resources that have relatively little value into goods and services that have greater value.
SERVICE: An activity that provides direct satisfaction of wants and needs without the production of a tangible product or good. Examples include information, entertainment, and education. This term good should be contrasted with the term good, which involves the satisfaction of wants and needs with tangible items. You're likely to see the plural combination of these two into a single phrase, "goods and services," to indicate the wide assortment of economic production from the economy's scarce resources.
Think about all the U.S. citizens being laid off, losing their jobs, myself included this year. If you are not making money, you darn well can't spend it. I was working in the cable division of Verizon which they had been trying to sell for the past 3 years. Well they finally found a buyer for the California and Florida markets. All paper work was signed before the court stepped in and put a hold on the sell. Well, I guess thank God for that because the buyer was Adelphia. You know, the CEO and his two sons that we saw on national TV last week, handcuffed and carted off to jail.
Needless to say that division of Verizon is still being dissolved and we are unemployed. I wonder if they will loan me a million.
With more and more of our jobs going to Mexico and overseas, our government will have less and less of our income taxes in the future. Have they thought of this?
Good luck to you.
Budget/Use Of The Surplus
The federal government is expected to run a surplus of nearly $5 trillion during the next ten years. Governor Bush has proposed a balanced economic program that will use the surplus to prepare for the future, dedicating: half to saving Social Security by establishing personal retirement accounts and reducing the debt held by the public; one-quarter for pro-growth tax cuts; and the remainder to reform education, strengthen Medicare, and support other priorities. As President, Governor Bush will bring taxes down from their record high level and pay the debt down to a historically low level.
Governor Bushs ApproachLock-box one-half of the surplus for strengthening Social Security by establishing personal retirement accounts and paying down the public debt: Within a decade, the massive Baby Boom generation will be eligible for Social Security. Governor Bush has proposed a bold framework to save Social Security, rather than simply passing the burden to the next generation.
He will set aside over half of the surplus to strengthen Social Security through personal retirement accounts and debt reduction.
Personal accounts are the best way to guarantee that the Social Security surplus is not used for other purposes. Governor Bush will also pay down a record amount of the debt held by the public, which will fall to the lowest level since the Great Depression (as a share of the economy).
Both debt reduction and personal accounts will improve the economy by increasing national savings and investment.
Reserve over one-quarter of the surplus for broad-based tax cuts: Governor Bush knows that hard-working Americans, not Washington, created the surplus.
He will return about a quarter of the surplus directly to the people who pay the bills.
As President Reagan demonstrated two decades ago, lower tax rates are the key to raising the standard of living for all Americans.
A sound tax plan is the best insurance policy against an economic downturn.
Reserve substantial funds for other priorities: Governor Bush will use the remainder of the surplus for other important priorities like defense, Medicare, education, and the environment.
Governor Bushs Surplus Proposal
Use of the Surplus: Governor Bush
2001-2010
Baseline Surplus - $4.6 trillion
Reserve for Social Security (personal accounts & debt reduction) - $2.4 trillion - 52%
Broad Tax Cuts - $1.3 trillion - 28%
Other Priorities & Additional Debt Reduction* - $0.9 trillion - 20%
*includes savings of $0.2 trillion from government reform
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