The deficit: Not as bad as they want you to think

[Havakasha]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1...-to-think.html



If those so-called deficit hawks would stop moralizing long enough to look at the data, they might find something surprising: That data almost entirely undermine their argument.
Yes, the long-run path of spending on federal health programs remains a serious and legitimate source of concern. But the numbers show that our current fiscal deficit is well within control -- as have been the deficits of the last five years.

[Havakasha]

That Terrible Trillion
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: December 16, 2012 525 Comments


As you might imagine, I find myself in a lot of discussions about U.S. fiscal policy, and the budget deficit in particular. And there’s one thing I can count on in these discussions: At some point someone will announce, in dire tones, that we have a ONE TRILLION DOLLAR deficit

No, I don’t think the people making this pronouncement realize that they sound just like Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies.

Anyway, we do indeed have a ONE TRILLION DOLLAR deficit, or at least we did; in fiscal 2012, which ended in September, the deficit was actually $1.089 trillion. (It will be lower this year.) The question is what lesson we should take from that figure.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/op...-trillion.html

[Havakasha]

More evidence.

The U.S. government posted a budget surplus in June, the latest sign of rapidly improving public finances that could reduce the urgency in Congress to strike a deal to raise the nation's limit on borrowing.

Rising tax revenues, public spending cuts and big payments to the Treasury from state-backed mortgage firms helped the government take in $117 billion more last month than it paid out, the U.S. Treasury said on Thursday.



http://www.cnbc.com/id/100880536

[Havakasha]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3745096.html


WASHINGTON -- The government on Monday reported a $97.6 billion deficit for July but remains on track to post its lowest annual budget gap in five years.

July's figure raises the deficit so far for the 2013 budget year to $607.4 billion, the government says. That's 37.6 percent below the $973.8 billion deficit for the first 10 months of the 2012 budget year.

The Congressional Budget Office has forecast that the annual deficit will be $670 billion when the budget year ends Sept. 30, far below last year's $1.09 trillion. It would mark the first year that the gap between spending and revenue has been below $1 trillion since 2008.

Steady economic growth, higher taxes, lower government spending and increased dividends from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have helped shrink the deficit.
WASHINGTON -- The government on Monday reported a $97.6 billion deficit for July but remains on track to post its lowest annual budget gap in five years.

July's figure raises the deficit so far for the 2013 budget year to $607.4 billion, the government says. That's 37.6 percent below the $973.8 billion deficit for the first 10 months of the 2012 budget year.

The Congressional Budget Office has forecast that the annual deficit will be $670 billion when the budget year ends Sept. 30, far below last year's $1.09 trillion. It would mark the first year that the gap between spending and revenue has been below $1 trillion since 2008.

Steady economic growth, higher taxes, lower government spending and increased dividends from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have helped shrink the deficit.

[Rewind]

What a difference the past four years have made! The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2018, which began October 1, 2017, is $440 billion. (Why can't the government go by calendar years like the rest of us?) Federal revenue is $3.654 trillion and federal spending is $4.094 trillion. (Why can't the government spend less money than it takes in? It can't be that difficult.)

President Trump announced a $1.25 trillion tax cut plan which would add an estimated two trillion dollars to the deficit over the next ten years. Many Republicans are opposed to the lowering of the corporate tax rate to 20%, the elimination of the estate tax and the elimination of state and local tax deductions on federal income taxes. The tax plan will undergo many changes before it passes -- if it passes. Republicans do not want the deficit to rise. Even without the tax plan, the deficit will rise. Fortune magazine has the depressing details:

In 36 months, America will face a $1 trillion budget deficit. Do voters care?

http://fortune.com/2017/09/22/united...udget-deficit/

[Rewind]

What a difference the past five years have made! Republicans no longer believe in fiscal restraint. Many generations of Americans will be paying, both figuratively and literally, for our nation's steadily rising deficit.

As debt rises, the government will soon spend more on interest than on the military
Tax cuts, spending increases and higher interest rates could make it harder to respond to future recessions and deal with other needs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/b...-interest.html

[Rewind]

Six years ago, Havakasha started this thread and said the deficit isn't really all that bad. Well, in the two years Donald Trump has been President, the national debt has grown by more than two trillion dollars. It is now $21,974,000,000,000 -- but at least the wealthiest Americans (including Trump) got their multi-million-dollar tax cuts. Remember when Republicans were fiscally conservative? That was in the years P.T. (Pre-Trump).

US national debt reaches new high under Trump

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/01/03/pol...ebt/index.html

[Rewind]

Remember when Donald Trump said he would erase our nation's $19 trillion national debt in only eight years? Of course that was before he gave $1.5 trillion in tax cuts to banks, big corporations and the wealthiest Americans. And now.....

National debt tops $22 trillion for the first time as experts warn of ripple effects

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/2849978002

[Rewind]

"There is no honest way to justify not paying for spending, no matter how often my fellow Republicans try." Congressman and Freedom Caucus co-founder Mick Mulvaney wrote those words in 2015 for a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled "The Republican budget is a deficit bust." In 2017, soon after becoming President Trump's director of the Office of Management & Budget, Mulvaney flip-flopped, declaring, "We need to have new deficits" in order to sustain 3% economic growth. This week, Mulvaney announced a trillion-dollar deficit. Remember when Trump said he would eliminate the deficit? Just another one of his lies.

White House projects $1 trillion deficit for 2019

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/4...ficit-for-2019

[Rewind]

Seven years after Havakasha started this thread, I think it's safe to assume there is no one in the United States who believes the deficit is "not as bad as they want you to think." It is now $867 billion and in 2022 will exceed one trillion dollars. I can't even count that high!

US budget deficit grows 27% through July

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wire...-july-64929418